Rockbrook: P.T. Barnum's Connection To The Camp

H.P. (Henry Peck) Clarke was from a prominent Bridgeport, Connecticut family.  In his late twenties, Clarke bought a large property outside of Columbia, South Carolina, known as Goodwill Plantation, in hopes of improving his health.

Clarke’s first wife, Julia Caroline Hurd, was the granddaughter of P.T. Barnum, founder of Barnum and Bailey Circus.  After her death, he married Mary Jane Macfie, daughter of Captain James Macfie.  Macfie commanded Company H “Congaree Troop” 2^nd Regiment South Carolina Cavalry, part of Wade Hampton’s Legion. 

The Clarke family began spending summers in Transylvania County in 1898.  Numerous newspaper tidbits tell of H.P. Clarke leading recreational activities, including camping, sightseeing, hiking, fishing and hunting with family and friends. 

The Clarke home at Rockbrook faced west and sat on a 
rise with a wide lawn.

Clarke purchased the old Chisholm place on the French Broad River and named it Rockbrook.  He build a large, stately home designed by Asheville architect, Richard Sharp Smith.  The front entrance of the Neoclassical Revival style house has a semicircular portico on Tuscan columns.  The house is two-and-one–half stories with a decorative widow’s walk topping the low hip roof.  Five dormers and two brick chimneys protrude from the roof as well.  The interior was comprised of large rooms flanking a central hall.  The third floor was originally servant’s quarters.  Some of the architectural drawings can be viewed at ncroom.buncombecounty.org/.  

The Clarkes regularly entertained at Rockbrook.  Mrs. Clarke hosted social gatherings, such as the Ladies Book Club.  Daughter, Nancy would invite friends to dance in the parlor or to a Christmas Day play performed in the main hall.  The grounds included a tennis court and a baseball diamond with games between local teams. 

 In 1912 public schools in Transylvania County began offering domestic science classes.  Nancy Clarke stepped up to provide equipment and materials as well as pay an instructor for girls from the Round Top and Island Ford schools.  The classes were held in one of the Rockbrook outbuildings.

On April 30, 1913 Nancy Barnum Clarke married Henry Nash Carrier at the Rockbrook home.  The wedding description read, “The bride was attired in a wedding robe of white charmeuse, en train, with trimmings of duchess and princess lace and bridal veil of tulle and orange blossoms.  She wore a magnificent pearl crescent, the gift of the groom.  The bridal procession formed at the head of the main stairway leading to the profusely decorated hall and thence entered the drawing room where the ceremony, in the presence of a large company of local and out of town guests, was performed.” 

In 1921, Mrs. Carrier established Rockbrook Camp for Girls on the property.  The camp will celebrate its centennial next year.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact NCRoom staff at ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.