Burt-Stark Mansion
The Burt-Stark Mansion, also known as Armistead Burt House, in Abbeville, South Carolina was the site of the last Council of War of cabinet members of the Confederate government. On May 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis, hoping to continue the struggle, met unanimous opposition and realized the Confederate independence cause was lost.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992 for being where Davis had his last council of war.
The property has had seven owners. The original owner, David Lesley, owned it until he died in 1855. He had hired Johnson, an English landscaper, to organize the property. The next owner was a Presbyterian pastor, Thomas A. Hoyt, who owned it until 1859 when he was sent to another church in Louisville, Kentucky. A banker from Charleston, South Carolina, Andrew Simonds, bought it from Hoyt and, in 1862, sold it to Amistead Burt, who owned it when Jefferson Davis used the building.