The Kilgore-Lewis House – also known as the Josiah Kilgore House – is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is described as follows:

Built ca. 1838 of heart pine, the Josiah Kilgore House is one of the oldest structures in Greenville County. Architecturally it is an example of the application of the Palladian or Classical Revival style to what is otherwise an upcountry farmhouse. The Palladian style found in the Josiah Kilgore House is more sophisticated than the vernacular styles usually found in this area of South Carolina during the first half of the nineteenth century. The Palladian stance of the square giant-order posts supporting the portico is echoed not only in the entrance but also in the windows at the front elevation and in some of the windows in the rear. The portico is capped by a pediment of plain design with an oculus. The bracketing of the pediment and eaves is a later addition. The house is a two-story L-shaped design on a low foundation. Shiplap is used in the protected areas under the porches while the remainder of the exterior is clapboard. The rear elevation with projecting rear wing has a three-bay porch on the right side of the wing balanced by a similarly gabled enclosed porch on the left. Originally located in a commercial area of downtown Greenville adjacent to Buncombe Street Methodist Church, the structure was moved to a five-acre site in McPherson Park to prevent its demolition.

The district straddles both Abbeville and Greenwood counties and is found at the junction of Abbeville County Road 33, Greenwood County Road 112, and Greenwood County Road 47.

As part of the Cedar Springs Historic District, the Frazier-Pressley House is listed in the National Register. It is described as follows:

The Frazier-Pressley House is a three-story, stuccoed brick building, believed to have been constructed as a residence for Captain James W. Frazier in 1852-1856. The building is composed of three octagonal sections connected by a hallway that circumscribes the central three-story octagon with a three-story portico defining the facade (south elevation) and a two-story stuccoed brick ell at the rear.

The portico of the Frazier-Pressley House features four three-story brick pillars with pilaster responds at the junctures with the house. The brick is laid on a diagonal bias, with vertical channeling resulting. The capitals of the pillars are cubical with recessed brickwork creating stepped diamond panels. A veranda is carried by the pillars at each level.

According the local tradition Captain James Frazier constructed his three-story brick plantation home between 1852 and 1856. in 1875 Frazier’s daughter Tallulah and her husband, Dr. Joseph Lowry Pressley, acquired the house. Dr. Pressley had served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army, rising to the rank of major. After his discharge he continued to serve the people of the Cedar Springs community as a doctor and teacher of medicine and dentistry. The central room on the third floor of the house served as his office.

The two-story gable-roofed log building adjacent the the Frazier-Pressley House was probably built c. 1820. Local tradition holds that the building was a stagecoach stop and inn on the road from August, Georgia, to Abbeville and Edgefield. It is likely that the stopping place was established in this location because of the community already developed around the Cedar Springs Church.

The Frazier-Pressley House is exceptional in that it is built around three octagons. These three octagonal elements are connected by a hallway circumscribing the central octagonal core of the house by a massive three-story portico, whose three tiers of porches are reached by seven entrances, all with transoms and sidelights. The composition and plan of the Frazier-Pressley House are believed to be unique in the United States.

Many thanks to Bill Fitzpatrick of Taylors, for sending us his photos of the Frazier-Pressley House. Bill enjoys the singular distinction of being the only person ever to have visited all 1,400 of South Carolina’s National Historic Landmarks. He has published several helpful e-books which serve as invaluable travel guides to the Palmetto State.

Of all the landmarks he visited, this home is one of Bill’s favorites. He explains, “I have special fondness for Cedar Springs, for it turned out to be the reason I did all of this. A fellow at a local camera shop was talking about the incredible, three-tiered, eight-sided abandoned plantation home about an hour or so south of Greenville. He knew it used to be on the border of the Cherokee Nation, so with no more information than that, I eventually found it. Only, and happily, as you can see, it is in the process of being improved. I never violated the privacy rights of homeowners, so like all other historic home shots, I took this one from the street.”

Local lore mistakenly claims that the house was either the site of a murder or built as a result of the man’s family burning to death in another home. Neither is true. John Robert Tolbert built the house between 1922 and 1926 to protect his family treasures.

The Rock House features eight symmetrical rooms on two floors with two fireplaces between them. It once had a spiral staircase in the center, which is now long gone.

SCIWAY thanks Blake Lewis of Greenwood for this fascinating history and shot taken in December 2010.

The name “Shoeless Joe” came into play (so to speak!) after he shed his new spikes during the second game of his first doubleheader in the semi-pros. The cleats had given him blisters, and when the fledgling Greenville Spinners’ hitter scored a triple, his nickname was born.

Sadly, Shoeless Joe is widely remembered for his association with the Black Sox Scandal in which players of the Chicago White Sox conspired to fix the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Even though Jackson was acquitted of any wrongdoing, he was banned forever from playing Major League Baseball. Today, decades after his death, he is still ineligible to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

It is important to note that no evidence exists to incriminate Joe and in fact, much evidence exists to absolve him, including his record during the series. In those games, Jackson made a record 12 hits with a batting average of .375. He also committed no errors and threw a runner out at the plate. Further, all seven other members of the scandal later confessed Jackson’s innocence, and in 1999, upon review of court records and contemporary news accounts, the US House of Representatives voted to ask the MLB to reverse their verdict. Over a decade later, the MLB has yet to heed this request.

Now used as a museum to remember Greenville’s beloved baseball son, Jackson’s house was dismantled and moved three miles from its original location of 119 East Wilburn Avenue to the historic West End of Greenville behind the new Flour Baseball Field. The address is 356 Field Street – a nod to Shoeless Joe’s lifetime batting average of .356, which stands as the third highest in baseball’s history!

Many thanks to Joseph Baker of Summerville who contributed both this photo and much of the information that accompanies it.

Legend has it that Walter Jackson, brother of the town’s founder James Jackson, won the right to build on the best spot in the new town by cutting a deck of cards with his brother. James built his house Rosemary Hall across the street from Lookaway Hall.

Many locals call the town’s centerpiece “The Mealing House,” because Dr. and Mrs. Henry Mealing lived there from 1936 through the late 1980s.

Today, the historic landmark is listed on the National Register and serves as the Lookaway Inn Bed & Breakfast.

SCIWAY thanks Andy Hunter of Denmark for contributing this picture, taken in 2011 and the accompanying information.

Built by James U. Jackson, North Augusta’s founder, Rosemary Hall was home to his daughter Edith and her family until the 1980s.

Today, the historic landmark is listed on the National Register and serves as the Rosemary Inn Bed & Breakfast.

SCIWAY thanks Andy Hunter of Denmark for contributing this picture, taken in 2010. Andy also shares, “This old house holds a special place in my heart as I went to kindergarten in the back of the mansion from 1962-1963.”

As noted in Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont, “Thomas O. Lowndes of Charleston was attracted to the area by the climate. Lowndes settled on a hill east of the village of Greenville. This hill was called Lowndes Hill.”

SCIWAY thanks Joseph Baker of Summerville for contributing this picture, taken in 2005, as well as the accompanying information. Joseph also sent in this lovely story about visiting the home: “As I sat on the porch steps of the old house and looked down the tree-lined driveway, [I realized that] before the houses were built, you could see all of downtown Greenville. You could imagine what beauty brought Mr. Lowndes to this particular area in the upcountry.”

Much of the masonry and stone work was salvaged from the old Vardry McBee Mill at the Falls of the Reedy River. From the late 1950s until the early 1970s, it was an apartment complex. It also served as the Greenville County Art Museum. Today, the home is privately owned and used as a wedding and reception facility.

SCIWAY sends a big thank you to Joseph Baker of Summerville for contributing this picture, taken in 2005, as well as the accompanying information.

Burt had become friends with Jefferson Davis before the Civil War. After fleeing Richmond on his way to Georgia at the close of the war, Davis stopped at his friend’s home where he held the last meeting with his Confederate cabinet on May 2, 1865.

The house was purchased by James Stark in 1913, and his daughters Mary Stark Davis and Fanny Stark McKee were its last residents. The house was donated to the Abbeville County Historic Preservation Committee in 1971 by Mary Stark Davis. Located at 306 North Main Street, the home is now open for tours.

The home, which is also called the Armistead-Burt House, is listed in the National Register where it is described as follows:

The Armistead Burt House is significant to Civil War history as it served as the location of President Jefferson Davis’ last Council of War. Despite a number of military surrenders in the preceding months, Davis was determined to continue the struggle for an independent Confederacy. He planned to rally the troops in Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor’s Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana, cross the Mississippi, and join with forces there.

Davis was steadfast in this resolve when he reached Abbeville and took up quarters at the home of his personal friend, Major Armistead Burt. During the meeting in the southeast parlor with John C. Breckenridge, Braxton Bragg, Generals Duke, Ferguson, Dibrell, and Vaughn, Davis was advised that any attempt to continue the war would inflict more misery on the South, striking the death knell of the Confederate government. Because of this final meeting, Abbeville is known as the “Grave of the Confederacy.”

The two-story frame house, built in the 1830s, is Greek Revival in style. Four square columns support a pedimented two-story portico. Floor-length shuttered windows open onto the main portico on either side of the front door. Ornamental brackets surround the home’s entablature.

The acreage contains an original separate kitchen outbuilding. The gardens were designed in the 1830s by an English landscaper named Johnson. The narrow entrance drive, originally a carriage road, circles before the front steps where a dismount stone still stands.

SCIWAY sends a special thanks to both Mark Clark and Bill Fitzpatrick for their help in creating this page for the South Carolina Picture Project. Mark Clark is an Abbeville native who currently resides in Winnsboro, and he contributed both a photo and much of the historical information above.

Bill Fitzpatrick, who hails from Taylors, took the photo at top in 2012. Bill enjoys the singular distinction of being the only person ever to have visited all 1,400 of South Carolina’s National Historic Landmarks. He has published several helpful e-books which serve as invaluable travel guides to the Palmetto State.

SCIWAY thanks Mark Clark, an Abbeville native currently residing in Winnsboro, for submitting this picture and historical information.

Marks says: “My father worked for this funeral home as a young man and had to go pick up the bodies of the deceased from the local hospitals. Talk about your odd jobs! The funeral home for many years was run by one of our neighbors, Harry Chandler. My father’s funeral was held here in 1994, completing the circle of life. In Abbeville, funeral homes honor the dead but also serve as the site of informal reunions among friends who have known each other since birth.”