Lathemtown Historic District, Epperson Family Rental House II, 195 Trenton Lane, Lathemtown

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445-L. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Epperson Family Rental House II is located at 195 Trenton Lane in Cherokee County, Georgia. The resource sits at the intersection of Trenton Lane and SR 20. The house is located at latitude: longitude: This point was taken from the center of the Epperson Family Rental House II. It was obtained on September 10, using Google Earth There is no restriction on its release to the public.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445-L. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Epperson Family Rental House II is a contributing resource to the Lathemtown Historic District. The early twentieth-century residence supports Lathemtown s significance as an intact, rural historic district. The house stands as a representation of the agricultural community s continued growth and development during the first half of the twentieth century. See the Lathemtown Historic District (HABS No. GA-2445) overview for further discussion of overall district significance. Historians: Marvin Brown, M.A., Senior Architectural Historian, AECOM Sarah Potere, Architectural Historian, AECOM Report Completed October

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445-L. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is implementing plans to widen State Route 20 from two to six lanes between Scott Road (near Canton) and North Corners Parkway (near Cumming). The project corridor spans approximately miles and falls within Cherokee and Forsyth Counties. As a result of this roadway expansion, all or part of the Epperson Family Rental House II will be demolished. Mitigation efforts were explored and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was developed between the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer. This Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documentation (historical narrative report and large format photography) was prepared in accordance with the stipulations of the MOA.

LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 2) Description: The Epperson Family Rental House II stands on the north side of SR 20. It is oriented east toward Trenton Lane, which serves as its eastern border. The house sits toward the front (south) of its lot and is accessible via driveways connecting to both SR 20 and Trenton Lane. Two late twentieth-century outbuildings accompany the house on its parcel. A frame, front-gabled garage clad in siding sits to the northeast of the house and a gambrel-roof prefabricated shed stands to its direct north. The Epperson Family Rental House II was originally constructed as a Gabled- Wing Cottage but has incurred multiple additions over the twentieth century, resulting in an irregular footprint.

Standing one-story tall, the frame house is clad in vinyl siding and topped with a cross-gable, standing-seam metal roof. It rests on a continuous brick foundation which has been stuccoed. Originally oriented to the south toward SR 20, the building s orientation has changed so that it is now oriented east and facing Trenton Lane. A centrally placed three-bay, side-gabled block with central brick chimney, once a secondary facade, now serves as the anchor of the building s reoriented primary (east) facade. A doorway is placed slightly off-center on the facade and holds a replacement, mid twentieth-century single-leaf wood door featuring a fanlight at its top and recessed panels below.

The doorway is sheltered by a shed-roof portico supported by synthetic columns resting on a brick-clad concrete deck. The portico is a twentieth-century addition. Flanking the door on either side are original six-over-six, double-hung, wood-sash windows set in vinyl surrounds and framed by fixed vinyl shutters. Extending from the southern gable of this central mass is a side-gabled, single- block addition which appears to date to the late twentieth-century. It features a single opening on its eastern facade, a doorway which holds the same type door as the primary entrance. The doorway is framed by a pedimented portico supported by wood posts and approached by a wooden wheelchair ramp. The ramp and portico appear to date to the twenty-first-century.

Its southern facade holds a paired set of six-over-six, double-hung, wood-sash windows. A covered patio with a flat roof and scrolled metal posts for support extends from the northern gable-end of the main mass. A side-gabled, rectangular block extends to the west (rear) of the building s modern-day primary (east) facade. This linear, single-story block is part of the building s original T-shaped plan and at one time held the building s primary entrance on its southern side. The fenestration pattern of this original wing is shielded from view by a multi-bay screen porch. Topped with a shed roof, the porch features centrally placed screen doors that are flanked on either side by large, wood-framed screens.

The doors are approached by a set of brick stairs LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 3) divided by a metal handrail. The western facade of the wing holds two symmetrically placed six-over-six, double-hung, wood-sash window which are historic. A front-gabled block extends north from the northwest corner of this original western wing and holds a centrally placed six-over-six, double-hung, wood-sash window on each its northern and western facades. This rear ell was the building s earliest addition based on historic aerial imagery. A shed-roof block with a paired set of six-over-six double-hung, wood-sash windows connects the front-gabled block to the northern end of the main house mass, and subsequently abuts the flat-roof patio.

It is likely an enclosed porch. History: Tax records assign this house an construction date. Its basic one-story, gable-end, central chimney form and frame construction could date to the late nineteenth-century or into the early twentieth. The first identified owner of the property on which the house stands is W.A. Lathem, Lathemtown s namesake and one of its largest early landholders. In he sold a less-than-one-acre parcel to John W. Turner for John W. Turner a farmer and mule trader according to census records, only held the land for a few years. In he sold it to Lawrence Epperson for In Turner lived in the Mullins district, west of the Cross Roads district in which Lathemtown is located. In he lived in Cross Roads, but by he had moved northwest to the Ballground district.

His time in Lathemtown encompasses the years in which he bought and sold the property. He likely lived on the property, but the sale price suggests he did not build a new house on it.2 Lawrence Epperson was a Cherokee County native with long connections to Lathemtown. Fourteen years before he bought the property, however, he moved to Atlanta, where he spent the remainder of his life. He likely made the purchase as an investment. (He also owned rental property just to the west at Cumming Highway.) The property remained in the Epperson family for 50 years. In LeRol R. Epperson, an Atlantan and Lawrence s son, acquired the land from his father s estate for and other unspecified consideration. In his son, LeRol R. Epperson, sold it to Noble L.

Graves, but retained an interest in it as security for a loan he made to Graves. The deeds specifically note that the property had a one story frame house thereon. Its footprint is also depicted on a plat map.3 1 Cherokee County Deed Book SS/Page 42 2 U.S. Bureau of the Census, and Federal Censuses; Cherokee County Deed Book SS/Page 348 and Deed Book 15/Page 3 Lawrence I. Epperson, Obituary, Atlanta Constitution, April 21, accessed April https://www.newspapers. %20%20epperson &match=1; Mr. and Lerol R. Epperson, Atlanta LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 4) According to handwritten note on the loan instrument, Graves paid off the debt and it was cancelled in In the year he died, he transferred the property to his wife, Lemmer M. Graves.

She owned it until her death in at which time her executors sold it from the family.4

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445-L. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Atlanta Constitution. Lawrence I. Epperson. Obituary. April 21, Accessed April %20%20epperson&match=1. Mr. and Lerol R. Epperson. December 19, Accessed April Epperson, LeRol. Obituary. May 17, Accessed April %20jr.%20lerol&match=2. Cherokee County Clerk of Court Office, Canton. Deed Book SS, Page 42, Deed Book SS, Page Deed Book 15, Page Deed Book 25, Page Book Page 40, Book Page Book 25, Page Constitution, December 19, accessed April %20r.%20epperson& match=1; Epperson, LeRol, Obituary, Atlanta Constitution, May 17, accessed April Cherokee County Deed Book 25/Page 351 Deed Book 196/Page 540 and Page 542 (loan Cherokee County Plat Book 25/Page 102 4 Cherokee County Deed Book 13400/Page 106 LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No.

GA-2445-L (Page 5) United States Bureau of the Census. United States Federal Census. Accessed June-August https://www.ancestry.com/. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 6) Supplemental Materials 1. Figures Georgia GIO State Imagery September Figure 1: Epperson Family Rental House II District Locator Map. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 7) Figure 2: Epperson Family Rental House II Site Map. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 8) Figure 3: House south (front) facade. View looking north. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 9) Figure 4: House east (side) facade. View looking west.

LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 10) Figure 5: House north (rear) facade. View looking south. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, EPPERSON FAMILY RENTAL HOUSE II HABS No. GA-2445-L (Page 11) Figure 6: Context view of House with modern outbuildings. View looking southeast.