Robert Smalls House

Childhood home of Robert Smalls — born enslaved here, later a U.S. congressman

The Robert Smalls House at 511 Prince Street is a plain-fronted two-storey clapboard house built around 1843. It would not draw a second glance if it were not for what happened to the boy who grew up here. Smalls was born in the house's slave quarters, escaped during the Civil War by stealing a Confederate ship, and went on to serve five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

After the war he returned to Beaufort, bought the house at a tax sale for $650, and lived in it until his death in 1915. The building is private (Smalls's descendants still own it) but the front is visible from the street, and there is a small marker outside that tells the basics of his story.

things to do landmark history
A story
Smalls was born enslaved in the small wooden outbuilding behind this house. In 1862 he commandeered a Confederate transport ship, the Planter, sailed it past Charleston harbour defences with his crew and their families aboard, and delivered it to the Union navy — then bought this house, where he had once been a slave, from its bankrupt former owner.