Cedars, The

National Register Listing

Street Address:

US 278, 0.3 mi E of SC 125, Beech Island, SC (Aiken County)

Alternate Name:

Ardis House; Atkinson House

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NRHP Nomination Form

Record Number:

S10817702028

Description and Narrative:

(Ardis House; Atkinson House) The Cedars complex is significant because it is an unusual combination of two wholly distinct architectural styles, the simple vernacular and the ornate folk Victorian. The later addition represents the changing social status of the owner at that time, Edward Heyward Atkinson, a local farmer, businessman and community leader in Beech Island. Built by Abram Ardis, Jr., around 1825, the original core of The Cedars main residence was a two-story, three bay, frame and weatherboard structure with no exterior embellishment with the principle entrance on the east elevation. Edward Heyward Atkinson, who doubled the size of the original building, built the second stage around 1908-1910. This two-story addition was built onto the south elevation of the original house and was faced with a one-story, full-width porch. The property is also significant because of three contributing agricultural outbuildings: a weatherboard barn with a standing seam metal roof, an early twentieth century frame tenant house covered with board and batten siding (a two room house, it is one remaining of the three that originally stood on the property), and a smokehouse. The complex of house and outbuildings represent and codify the changing agricultural practices of rural Aiken County from 1850 to 1925. Listed in the National Register June 17, 1993.

Period of Significance:

1908;circa 1900 – 1941;circa 1825

Level of Significance:

Local

Area of Significance:

Architecture

National Register Determination:

listed

Date of Certification:

June 17 1993

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