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(Lady Blake’s House) The plantation generally known as Newington was settled by Daniel Axtell or his widow, Lady Rebecca Axtell in the early or middle 1680s. Named for Axtell’s original home in England, Newington represents a series of house forms as they developed in early South Carolina, from an early single timber and clay structure which was destroyed sometime around the Yamassee War in 1715 to the fine, large brick structure built by Joseph Blake. Blake was considered one of the wealthiest men in the province at the time, and while he lived at Newington, the plantation included terraced gardens, a reflecting pool, brick outbuildings, and a massive main house. Various members of the Blake family owned the plantation until, in 1837, it was sold to Henry A. Middleton. The home does not seem to have been occupied much of the time Middleton owned it. According to Mrs. Poyas, who remembered the house from her childhood, the house burned in 1845. Thereafter the ruins stood until 1876, when an attempt made to salvage the bricks failed. After years under the plow, many of the ruins on the surface have disappeared and the ornamental lake has silted and gone to ruin. Listed in the National Register September 17, 1974.

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