225-year-old Lexington home saved from demolition

A 225-year-old home in Lexington will be saved and moved elsewhere instead of demolished, organizers of a preservation effort say.

Plans call for work to start Monday on moving the home to make it part of an office complex along Main Street in the center of the community.

It won’t become the museum on the north side of Lake Murray that the fledgling Dutch Fork Historical Society hoped for, but the organization is satisfied with the outcome any way.

“Turning it into a museum was secondary,” said Kenneth Robison, a leader of the group. “Saving it is more important.”

The home will be moved a mile from a 20-acre site slated to become a retiree community.

It was built in the 1790s near what is now the lake and moved to Lexington 33 years ago to become a private residence.

The new plan for its future was arranged through The Palmetto Trust For Historic Preservation, a group that raised $15,000 to move it.

“We work to save places like this that are at risk,” said Michael Bedenbaugh, the group’s executive director.

The developer of the retirement community made a $10,000 donation.

“We understand the value this home has to the community we are now a part of and are happy to save the house,” Wellmore vice-president Ben Thompson said.

The home will be attached to law offices and renovated, said Jean Derrick, a lawyer who is one of the partners in the company acquiring it.

“It looks like the perfect fit for our need,” she said. “It also gives it a second life.”