Pineville, a historic refuge
Part 43: Tower Hill Plantation
By Warner M.Warner@TheColuMmobniatgSotamr.ceormy

Tower Hill Plantation in Pineville

She has rested on the bluff overlooking the Santee River for almost 300 years. Tower Hill was first a refuge for a Huguenot family, then a secluded home for Episcopal monks, then a hunting club for wealthy Northerners, and finally a Southern estate for a Norwegian family.

Daniel Couturier I cleared the land between the River Road and the Santee River around 1720. He built a house and called his new home Tower Hill, honoring the relatively high promontory overlooking the surrounding forest, swamp, and river. The farm passed to his son, Daniel Couturier II, then his grandson, John Couturier I. The first house burned in 1748 and was rebuilt.

During the Revolutionary War, John Couturier I served as captain of cavalry under Gen. William Moultrie at the battle of Sullivan's Island. Tower Hill passed to his oldest son, John II, a member of the S.C. General Assembly (1787- 1788).

The plantation continued in the Couturier family with John II's son, Dr. John J. Couturier, and his wife, Rebecca Palmer, in 1820. Dr. Couturier had received a classical education at the Pineville Academy and was, for a short time, an assistant teacher there. He went to the Medical College of New York and returned in 1817 to find himself in possession of a practice worth six or seven thousand dollars a year.

The Couturier Family Coat of Arms

Dr. John died of yellow fever during the Pineville epidemic of 1834 and buried in St. Stephen's Episcopal Church cemetery. John and Rebecca had three daughters and no sons, so the family ownership of Tower Hill was disrupted.

A hundred years passed - civil war, desolation, world war, and depression. Tower Hill suffered along with her sister plantations in Pineville. Finally, she was rescued by Edward "Ed" St. Julien Marion only to have the house burn in 1934. Two years later, Marion and his wife, Francis "Frank" Dantzler Marion rebuilt the house on the same foundation.

A personal note: my mother, Mary Palmer Gourdin, held her wedding reception at Tower Hill after she and W. Miller Montgomery were married in the St. Stephen Church in 1938.

After Ed Marion's death in 1947, Frank operated the plantation with assistance of Jack and Emma Jane White, the black caretakers who lived on the property for years. Ed's cousin and neighbor, Peter Palmer Gourdin, helped whenever Frank called. His son, Keith, tagged along and loved every minute of it.

Frank developed a close friendship with an Episcopal priest and missionary, Father Lincoln A. Taylor. Josephine "Jo" Marion, Ed Marion's sister, also an Episcopal missionary helped establish the Guildhall of the Holy Family between Moncks Corner and Summerville. The three devotees envisioned making Tower Hill a religious retreat. Before plans could be finalized, Fr. Taylor joined the Order of the Holy Cross and was stationed in Africa. He returned in 1959 as Superior of the Order. Finally, in 1975, Frank Marion deeded Tower Hill to the Order and a monastery, Holy Savior Priory, was established.

Fr. Taylor and five monks lived in separate hermitages (cabins) and built a main chapel. Frank Marion built a cottage for herself near the big house and assisted the monks in maintaining the house and farm.

Sixteen years later, 1991, Fr. Taylor died and Holy Savior Priory closed. The church sold Frank Marion the cottage she built for herself and 15 acres for $5. Frank's niece, Saundra Dyson, and her husband purchased the big house and the remaining acreage. Frank continued to live a meditative life until her death in 1998.

The Dysons operated Tower Hill as a hunting club. They lived in the big house, converted the chapel into a lodge and the six hermitages into cottages for members' use.

In 2003, the Dyson's sold Tower Hill (1,600 acres) to the adjacent Oakland Club, which, a century ago, had purchased the old Bluford Plantation once owned by the DuBose family. The club is owned by a small tight- knit group of wealthy men from Up North.

The final chapter in the story of Tower Hill took place in 2006 when the Oakland Club reorganized the property. They developed 816 acres for hunting and sold the land along the Santee River to Sonoco Corporation for timberland. The big house and 23 acres were sold to a couple from Norway, Ida and Guttorm Berqvam, who wanted a peaceful rural manor in America.

Tower Hill is still a peaceful sanctuary. The Couturiers found religious freedom on the Santee bluff in 1720. The land they cleared, and the foundation of the house they built is now home to another family from Europe who came to America seeking personal freedom.

(Keith Gourdin of Pineville contributed to this article.)

(Next week: The Santee- Cooper Project)