John Mark Verdier House
This Federal-style mansion was built around 1804 by John Mark Verdier, a wealthy French Huguenot merchant and planter. The house hosted the Marquis de Lafayette during his 1825 Southern tour and was seized as headquarters for Union General Rufus Saxton when Federal forces occupied Beaufort in the 1860s. Today it is operated by the Historic Beaufort Foundation as the town's only historic house museum open to the public. Its ghost is said to be Verdier's son, mortally wounded in a duel he reportedly entered knowing he would not win. Docents and visitors describe an oppressive sadness and sudden cold in the upstairs room where he is said to have died of his injuries. The house is a regular stop on Beaufort's ghost walks, which fold its melancholy into the town's broader lore of antebellum spirits. The blend of genuine history, Civil War occupation, and the lingering grief of a needless death keeps it a fixture of local haunted tours.
📍 801 Bay Street, Beaufort, SC 29902, Beaufort, SC · Get directions