The Thomas Hepworth House, one of six houses on The Point historic walking tour, is sometimes called the Hepworth-Pringle House or “the oldest house in Beaufort.”  It was built in 1717 for the man who became Chief Justice of South Carolina from 1724-1727. The house was a kind of a mini-stockade against Indian invasion, with gun slits cut through the above-ground phosphate basement walls to protect against an Indian attack.  Hepworth built the house to meet a residency requirement so he could run for the assembly. 