South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

Massey-Doby-Nisbet House, Lancaster County (S.C. Sec. Rd. 55, Van Wyck vicinity)
S1081772902301 S1081772902302 S1081772902303
Left Oblique Right Oblique Interior
Mantel

The Massey-Doby-Nisbet House is significant both as an example of the evolution of a rural Lancaster County farmhouse from the late eighteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, and for its association with the Massey, Doby, and Nisbet families of the Van Wyck community. The home was built ca. 1790 by an unknown member of the Massey family. The house was originally two stories with one room on each floor (an I-House type). John M. Doby (1801-1878), of a prominent Camden family, inherited the house after 1824 when he married Elizabeth Massey. Doby, a graduate of South Carolina College, militia officer, and planter, enlarged and remodeled the house ca. 1830, which doubled the size and added Federal detailing. Doby moved to Arkansas in 1855, selling it to the Smith family. The Smiths retained it until ca. 1895, when Edward William Nisbet (1859-1908), a farmer and merchant in the Van Wyck and Waxhaw communities, purchased the home. Nisbet enlarged and remodeled the house soon after he acquired it. The house was remodeled again ca. 1935 by his son John Edwin Nisbet, a prominent cattle farmer. Listed in the National Register February 16, 1990.

View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property. In addition, the Historic Resources of Lancaster County, ca. 1745-ca. 1940 includes historical background information for this and other related National Register properties.

Most National Register properties are privately owned and are not open to the public. The privacy of owners should be respected. Not all properties retain the same integrity as when originally documented and listed in the National Register due to changes and modifications over time.

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