Paint Analysis at Hutchinson House

In the spring of 2024, the WLCC worked with the Edisto Island Open Land Trust to provide a paint analysis of the interior finishes of various architectural elements inside the Hutchinson House, a historic Reconstruction Era freedman’s house located on Edisto Island, South Carolina. The first step of the analysis involved the on-site collection of paint samples from multiple rooms and features inside the house, including door casings, floorboards, original exterior decorative bargeboard, and door hardware.

After the samples were collected, they were brought to WLCC and cast in cubes of resin, which were then cut to reveal a cross-section stratigraphy of the paint layers present in each sample. These samples were examined under a digital microscope to determine the number of paint layers and the variety of paint colors used in each layer, which were color-matched according to the Munsell Color System (a standardized color system used in the historic preservation and archaeology fields).

The paint analysis of these interior features will allow the Edisto Island Open Land Trust to continue its stewardship of the Hutchinson House by choosing appropriate and historically accurate paint colors in its current restoration campaign for the house.