Tabby Manse

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Tabby Manse, also known as the Thomas Fuller House, is a historic home in Beaufort, South Carolina. Built around 1786 by Thomas Fuller as a wedding gift for his bride, Elizabeth Middleton, it is one of the few remaining tabby-walled houses on the South Carolina coast. Tabby is a mix of crushed oyster shells and lime, and the walls are more than two feet thick, finished with stucco scored to look like stone blocks.

The house shows Palladian influences and English country-house style, with a symmetrical floor plan. The first floor has two drawing rooms, and upstairs is a ballroom. The interior features longleaf pine and cypress paneling and mantels in the high style of the 18th-century designer Robert Adam. Rear wings give the back rooms southern exposure and waterfront views. With only a 20th-century kitchen addition, the house remains largely unchanged since 1786.

Thomas Fuller and Elizabeth Middleton raised twelve children here. The property’s early history was forever affected by the Civil War when Beaufort was occupied by Federal forces in 1861. The Fullers and their way of life were disrupted. In 1862–1864, Reverend Mansfield French, who led efforts to care for formerly enslaved people, occupied the house and later bought it. His family owned it for a time, and in the late 19th century it operated as a guest house run by Emmeline Morrill and her sisters for almost a century.

In the 1930s, writer Francis Griswold stayed at Tabby Manse and described the interior in A Sea Island Lady.

In 1969, George Graham Trask and his wife purchased the home, restored it, added a modern kitchen, and created new gardens. Their family lived there for years.

Tabby Manse is recognized for its historic importance. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and is a contributing property in the Beaufort Historic District, a National Historic Landmark District designated in 1973.