The Puritan Farm features the Keitt-Whaley-Pearlstine House. The home was built between 1820 and 1825 by the Reverend Jacob Wannamaker for Dr. and Mrs. George Keitt. Their son, Lawrence M. Keitt, was elected to the US Congress in 1852, resigned in 1856, then re-elected to fill his own seat, only to resign again in 1860. The home remained with descendants of George Keitt until 1912, when Shep Pearlstine purchased the house. Pearlstine named the house Puritan Farm.

More on Lawrence M. Keitt, in 1852 he was elected to the United States Congress; he resigned his seat in 1856 in a heated controversy over his refusal to cooperate in a House investigation of Preston Brooks’ caning of Charles Sumner in the Senate chambers. That same year he was elected to fill his own vacant seat, but again resigned in 1860 to sign the Ordinance of Secession in South Carolina. While a member of the Confederate Provisional Congress, Keitt co-authored the Confederate Constitution. From 1861 to 1864, he served as a colonel in the South Carolina Volunteers in the defense of Charleston harbor and in the Virginia campaigns. He died as a result of wounds received at the Battle of Cold Harbor.

Location: Saint Matthews, South Carolina