Belfair
W. Moseley Swain, artist, has perhaps more truly recaptured the spirit of the old homes of Coastal South Carolina than any of the ther northerners who have bought lands and built large estates in this section.
Perhaps it is because he is an artist and, therefore, capable of a keener sense of the fitness of things than the average person. However that may be, Mr. Swain has achieved the atmosphere of the old south in his magnificent tabby home, which is situated on a bluff overlooking the Colleton river about four miles from Bluffton, in Beaufort county. Mr. Swain's plantation is called Belfair, the original name of the old plantation being retained in practically every instance where these old low-country estates have come into the hands of wealthy men from the north.
Belfair is entered through high white wooden gates just off a country road between Hardeeville and Bluffton. At the left of the entrance is the small white cottage of the superintendent of the estate and at the end of a long white shell road is Belfair.
Four Stories High
This beautiful home is four stories high and is fashioned of a combination of threefourths oyster shell and one-fourth cement. The old tabby was made of oyster shell and lime. The material for the home was made up at the site, the oyster shell being obtained from a nearby oyster factory. The house was designed by Mr. Swain himself. The approach is made to the rear of the building, although, in this case, the rear is so lovely that one can scarcely believe the front is more so.
The walk that leads to the wide high stairs, which mount to the great porch, is bordered with Satsuma oranges. The low bushes in December were heavy with fruit, glowing golden through the green foliage. These bushes have been growing only a year and a half.
Original title: "Belfair-Designed by Artist Owner. W. Moseley Swain, 'A Citizen of South Carolina,' He Says, Builds Magnificent Tabby Home Overlooking Colleton River in Beaufort County."
Publication date:
January 18, 1931.
Courtesy of the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society
In fact, the home was built only two years ago, but so perfectly did Mr. Swain carry out his ideas that the building seems aged already. The house fronts the river with its wide concrete porch, great white columns and curving railed stairs which lead down over a flagged walk to the water's edge.
Four Windows to River
The immense reception hall has a double stair, which leads to the sleeping apartments above. On one side of the hall is a large, bright living room and on the other the dining room. These rooms have three exposures each, with four windows which overlook the river. Upon the walls hang interesting family portraits, exquisite tapestries and paintings. Above the mantel in the dining room is a full-length portrait of Mr. Swain in his uniform during the World war.
On the second floor are bedrooms and one small sitting room. All of these rooms, with one exception, command a splendid view of the river, glinting in the sunshine or winding grayly to sea, according to the moods of the weather. On the fourth floor are three of the coziest attic rooms that could be imagined. The big center room has its oddly shaped walls lined with books and magazines. On either side of this is a big dormitory room with many single beds. This floor is used for hunting parties. Peeping out of the quaint little attic windows is to be seen the Swains' white yacht, riding gracefully at anchor. It sways there proudly, like a swan.
Two Daughters and Son
There are Mr. Swain, his two daughters, Louise and Phyllis, the latter being just out of Smith college, and W. Moseley Swain, Jr., a tall fair youth with a warm, friendly smile, known to his family as "Bill."
Phyllis, who was in khaki breeches and shirt, just in from a "gunning" trip, is boyish and athletic and is the housekeeper. Mrs. Swain died suddenly just after the home was finished and the family make their home at Belfair, although they come and go as the notion strikes them.
"But this is our home," Mr. Swain waxed enthusiastic. "This is how well we like your coastal country. We used to live in Haverford, Pa., but I am now a citizen of South Carolina." And, here, tucked away from the stir of the world, yet within easy reach of the glitter of bright lights, is everything that the heart could desire. Still, Louise and Phyllis and Bill are young, and when asked what they did to amuse themselves, Phyllis' bright eyes crinkled with laughter. She dashed off somewhere and returned with a picture.
"This is what we do, mostly-pushing ourselves out of the mud. Oh, yes, and we also help fight forest fires. Did you ever do it? It's lots of fun." They are very versatile, these young people. They speak with equal casualness of trips to Europe and of deep sea fishing. On one wall hangs a huge tarpon weighing 99 3/4 pounds, which was caught by Louise Swain, off the coast of Florida. Had the fish weighed a quarter pound more, she would have received a medal. Down in the basement is another fish weighing 147 pounds which her father caught in the same place.
Pictures in Basement
Down in the basement, too, are hung some of Mr. Swain's pictures. His work features nude women, although there are some still life scenes. Mr. Swain has exhibited at the Art club in Philadelphia and received two honorable mentions, one nude and one still life. He never seriously studied art until he was a grown man with children, but his pictures show a rarely delicate touch. Mr. Swain comes of a newspaper family, his grandfather Swain being one of the founders of the Philadelphia Ledger and the Baltimore Sun. During the Confederate war, his partner, who was running the Sun, was a Secessionist, while Mr. Swain, who ran the Ledger, could not agree with him. So they dissolved partnership. Belfair plantation is located at what is known as Wigg's Point and comprises about two thousand acres, including what were formerly the old Barnwell and Glover plantations. Part of this property is also known as the old H. A. M. Smith place. It is said that the name Belfair was a combination of the names Bell and Telfair, which families at one time owned some of the property.
Mr. Swain and his children like to shoot birds, but not deer. Asked why he did not like deer hunting, Mr. Swain looked slightly embarrassed, but Phyllis rushed to his rescue. "Oh, who could shoot a beautiful deer!" Her father's eyes warmed upon her. "I couldn't get a kick out of killing a deer-it would be like cold-blooded murder." Eager, responsive, likable people are the Swains. Their beautiful, expensive tabby home was a happy thought for Coastal South Carolina, but they themselves are the richer acquisition.
BEAUFORT COUNTY PROPERTIES
Judging from Mrs. Martin's enthusiastic description of Belfair, the Swain family must have given her a cordial welcome when she made her visit in 1931. The family had been living there since 1928. William Moseley Swain's grandfather, who shared the same name with his grandson, founded the newspapers mentioned by Mrs. Martin. His son Charles Moseley Swain, a prominent lawyer and financier in Philadelphia, left a fortune of $1.8 million in 1904 but no will. In addition to his painting career, William Moseley Swain was president of the Williamson Motor Company.
The Belfair property had been part of Devil's Elbow, or Okeetee Barony, the twelvethousand-acre grant to Sir John Colleton in 1718. It was rich, productive land on the Colleton River, and the family had kept it intact until sometime after Sir John's death in 1777. It had never been the family seat, however. That was always Fairlawn Barony in Berkeley County. Later, in the nineteenth century, Belfair was owned by William Wigg Barnwell and sometimes was called Barnwell. Wigg Point, where Mr. Swain built his house, takes its name from that ownership.
The Swain house was a striking residence, as Mrs. Martin says, of tabby construction, a material used along the coast for the raised foundations of plantation houses as well as for local fortifications. Its reputation was that the composition strengthened with age. Mr. Swain was his own engineer, but unfortunately he had not mastered the art of preparing tabby. Over time the excessive saline content of the mixture began to leach out, causing the walls to crumble-a distressing end to a house built to last for the ages. His "magnificent tabby home" fell to pieces after Mr. Swain's 1940 death in Savannah at age sixty-seven. W. Moseley Swain Jr., the "tall fair youth with a warm, friendly smile," was murdered in Beaufort County in December 1948, a crime that remains unsolved and is still discussed locally. Belfair Plantation, five miles from the bridge to Hilton Head Island, is now a residential golf development. | 
