MYSTERY: Another old picture of old building

Here’s another old, somewhat blurry, image of an old building in what obviously is the Lowcountry (witness the Spanish moss).  Where is it?  And for the bonus, what importance does it have?  Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our previous mystery, “Old picture of old place,” showed Middleburg Plantation in a Library of Congress photo from the 1930s.  Middleburg, located near Huger on the Cooper River in Berkeley County,  is reportedly the oldest wooden house — circa 1697 — south of Virginia.  

As sleuth Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, shared, the privately-owned French-style farmhouse is a National Historic Landmark.  “The mystery photo was created in January 1938 by Frances Benjamin Johnston, an early American photographer best known for her portraits and images of southern architecture in the mid-20th century. The original negative of the photo is currently housed at the Library of Congress. A historical review of the Middleburg Plantation here reveals that Marie Guerin Ball Dingle owned the property from 1927 to 1963. As such, I would guess that one of the two female adults sitting on the porch in the photo would have been Marie Guerin Ball Dingle. If your readers are interested in learning more about this house, and getting an indoor tour of some of its original features, check out Bob Vila’s Tour of Middleburg Plantation house on Youtube here.”

Others who correctly identified the photo were:  Naomi Blumenthal of Greenwood Lake, N.Y., Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant; and Don Clark of Hartsville.  Thanks, all!

• Send us a mystery:  If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!)   Send it along to  editor@charlestoncurrents.com.