Magnolia Hall, Plantation house in Sumter County, South Carolina, United States

Magnolia Hall is a house built in the 1800s on a plantation in Sumter County, South Carolina. The wooden structure features tall columns at the front, a wide porch extending around three sides, high ceilings inside, and many original wooden floors and fireplaces.

The house was built around 1821 in Greek Revival style and expanded between 1855 and 1860 when a monumental porch with columns was added. A tornado in the early 1900s damaged the roof over the porch, which was later rebuilt with exposed rafter tails showing the impact of that event.

The house is also known as the Dr. Swepson Saunders House, after the physician who bought the property in 1853. Local accounts credit his enslaved cook with saving the house in April 1865 by feeding the Union troops under Brigadier General Edward E. Potter when they arrived.

The property is located in a rural setting near Hagood, and the exterior and outbuildings such as the slave house and barn can be viewed from outside. Visitors should note that the interior of the main house is typically not open to the public, and the grounds are best explored in good weather conditions.

In April 1865, Union troops under Brigadier General Edward E. Potter threatened to burn Magnolia Hall; the house was reportedly saved when Dr. Saunders's enslaved cook fed the soldiers. Saunders, hiding between the house and Stateburg, had seen Stateburg's burning houses and expected his own to burn.