Evans House, 3995 Canton Highway (State Route 20), Cumming

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2447. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Evans House is located at Canton Highway/State Route 20 (SR 20) in Forsyth County, Georgia. The resource sits on the south side of the highway just east of Evans Road. The Evans House is located at latitude: longitude: This point was taken from the center of the resource. Both points were obtained on October 30, using Google Earth There is no restriction on their release to the public.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2447. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Evans House stands as a good representative example of the Ranch House type. It retains a high degree of material integrity and displays many character defining features often associated with its type. Its construction along the SR 20 corridor demonstrates the continued growth and development of the region during the mid-twentieth- century.1 Historian(s): Marvin Brown, M.A., Senior Architectural Historian, AECOM Sarah Potere, Architectural Historian, AECOM Report Completed November The Evans House (Resource was evaluated for eligibility for listing in the National Register using the National Register Criteria for Evaluation as outlined in 36 CFR Part There are no known associations with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.

There are no known associations with individuals whose specific contributions to history can be identified and documented with this property. No associations were indicated or suggested as a result of background research on the project area, deed research on the property, or in any response to the Department's early consultation correspondence received from consulting parties. Therefore, there was no basis for evaluating the property under Criteria A or B. Also, there are no indications that the property is likely to yield information on important research questions in history or prehistory. This property does not appear to have the potential to be the principal source of important information. Therefore, there was no basis for evaluating the property under Criterion D.

The Evans House (Resource was evaluated under Criterion C and appears to possess significance in the area of architecture. The resource retains many of the significant and character-defining features of the Ranch type. The resource exhibits the characteristic long and low form; a variety and contrast in exterior materials and textures; an un-obscured front entry; and, a variety of window types and sizes. Because the property retains a high degree of integrity in the areas of location, setting, design, materials, and workmanship and exhibits most of the important and characteristic features of its type, the Evans House (Resource is considered eligible for inclusion in the National Register under Criterion C in the area of architecture.

However, the associated historic outbuilding does not convey any notable architectural significance. Integrity: The Evans House (Resource has been determined to possess integrity in the areas of location, setting, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and feeling. The resource is located in its original site of construction. Even though there have been alterations within the immediate setting to the rear of the property, the overall character of its historic setting is still sufficiently evident. There have been no evident exterior alterations, additions, or loss of original building materials that have diminished the integrity of the resource in the areas of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling.

The Evans House (Resource does not have any known associations with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history or with any individuals whose specific contributions to history can be identified and documented with this property. 22 Edwards-Pitman, Historic Resources Survey Report, The report also includes a history, description, and photographs of the Property.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2447. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is implementing plans to widen SR 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 Evans House will be demolished. Mitigation efforts were explored and a 1 Edwards-Pitman, Inc., Historic Resources Survey Report: GDOT Projects and Cherokee and Forsyth Counties (P.I. Nos. HP No. HP No. (Prepared for Georgia Department of Transportation, GDOT, copy on file at GDOT Office of Environmental Services, Atlanta, GA.

The Determination of Eligibility (DOE) for the Evans House, which is contained within the aforementioned document excerpt, is included in the Supplemental Materials. EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 2) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was devised 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 aforementioned MOA. Part I: Historical Information A. Physical History 1.

Date of erection: Tax records list as the date of construction of the Evans House.2 This date is supported by the house s linear appearance and categorization as a Linear Ranch Subtype.3 2. Architect: Not Known 3. Original and subsequent owners, occupants, uses: Claude Eugene Eugene Evans and his wife, Sarah Francis Echols Evans acquired this 1.74-acre parcel from Tom Heard in Aerial photographs suggest that they may have built a small house on the parcel within a year of the purchase and also quickly erected chicken houses on the property.5 If they did erect a residence, they replaced it with the current, much larger house in Eugene Evans was raised in the Ducktown community of western Forsyth County where the parcel is located. In when he was 10, his parents Roscoe W.

Evans, and Maud Estelle Tribble Evans moved to a one-acre parcel located approximately 0.2 miles east of the Evans 2 Forsyth County Board of Tax Assessors, Property Record Search for Canton Highway. 3 Patrick Sullivan, Mary Beth Reed, and Tracey Fedor, The Ranch House in Georgia: Guidelines for Evaluation (Stone Mountain, GA: New South Associates, 43, 4 Forsyth County Deed Book 28/Page 506 and Deed Book 7253/Page 735 5 Historic Aerials, and aerials (images), and aerial image search of Canton Highway, Netronline, accessed November The aerial depicts a house, whereas the aerial does not.

6 Edwards-Pitman, in its Historic Resources Survey Report, page stated: The property was acquired by Sarah Evans on April 6, upon the death of her father, Evans, and she has retained ownership since that time to the present. Subsequent research, however, indicates that (Roscoe W.) Evans, Sr. was her father-in-law and she and her husband, Eugene, acquired the property in Roscoe W. Evans, Sr. did die on April 6, but he never owned the property. Sarah Evans was alive and owned the house when Edwards-Pitman recorded the Evans House. EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 3) House on the Canton Road, later SR According to his obituary, Eugene Evans drove a Forsyth County school bus for almost 43 years and enjoyed his farm, raising cattle and chickens.

With his brothers Roy, Toy, and he was also co-owner of Evans Paving company. Sarah Evans obituary largely mirrored Eugene s, stating that she loved working alongside her husband in the yard, farming, raising chickens and driving the school bus. The property passed to the Evans son, Gary Eugene Evans, in Eugene and Maud Evans had the misfortune of being in the path of thunderstorms and tornados in the spring of According to the Atlanta Constitution: Areas around Cumming, the county seat of Forsyth, reported the possible loss of chickens, a major industry in that section of the state. One man, Eugene Evans, said the tornado lifted one of his chicken houses and set it on top of another. He said some chickens were destroyed in the disruption. 9 4. Builder: Not known. 5.

Original plans and construction: No original plans, descriptions, or construction documents were identified for the Evans House. The house presents characteristics of a Ranch House and is a typical design for its location and construction. The wood-frame residence retains its one-story height, end-gable roof, and double-pile, rectangular footprint. It rests on a continuous brick foundation and is clad in brick veneer. 6. Alterations and additions: Since its initial construction, the Evans House has incurred no additions to its footprint and few material alterations. These alterations are limited to the building s rear door which is a fiberglass replacement unit and aluminum window units found throughout, which may also be replacements. B.

Historical Context The community of Ducktown was established in the at the crossing of Franklin Goldmine Road and Heardsville Road, in western Forsyth County. The crossroads stands approximately one-half mile north of the current SR 20 corridor and approximately one mile northwest of the Evans House and the Grogan House and Store properties, where Eugene Evans grew up. Georgia s General Assembly 7 Post Office Department, Map of Forsyth County, Ga. Showing Rural Delivery Service, County Maps, Surveyor General, Georgia Archives, 319/rec/1; US Census Bureau and Forsyth County Deed Book 16/Page 29 The one-acre property of Eugene Evans parents, at the junction of Doc Sams Road and the Canton Highway, was recorded as part of the current project as the Grogan House and Store (HABS GA-2448).

8 Ingram Funeral Home (Eugene Evans, Evans, and Sarah Evans obituaries), accessed November Forsyth County Deed Book 7253/Page 735 9 Flood, Winds Plague Georgia, Atlanta Constitution, April 3, accessed November EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 4) incorporated Ducktown in and the community thrived through the It began to decline in the though, due to three principal events: the Great Depression, the burning of its cotton gin in and the increasing importance of the Canton Road to its south.10 Ducktown lost its incorporation in In residents of Hall, Forsyth, Cherokee, Bartow, and Floyd counties who lived along the route known as the Cherokee Trail petitioned Georgia s state highway board to add the trail a predecessor of the Canton Road and SR 20 to the state highway system.

The petition pointed out that this will make a cross-section road, running east and west, north of Atlanta and that there is now no such road north of Atlanta. The proposed route was to extend from Gainesville on the east, to Rome on the west, through Oscarville (now beneath the waters of Lake Lanier), Cumming, Ducktown, Canton, and Cartersville. Within the next two decades, the road became part of the state system and passed through all these communities. It did not, however, run through the Ducktown crossroads.12 In late the road indeed the principal east-west route through the center of Forsyth County was scraped, leveled, and paved.13 A number of the businesses destroyed in the cotton-gin fire opened anew on the paved highway.

By the SR 20 was a trailer truck route so busy that children basically could not walk to each other s homes. 14 The route became a prime location for chicken houses in Forsyth County and Cherokee County to its west. Many chicken houses, almost all now vacant, continue to stand along the route in the two counties. The chicken industry was central to small farming in the two counties from the late until near the close of the century and still survives at large operations.15 Some farmers established massive operations along the route.16 The large majority of chicken farmers operated on a small scale. Eugene and Maud Evans were numbered among them.17 10 Linda Ledbetter, Growing Up In Ducktown self-published, no date, 85.

11 State of Georgia, Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly, Kenneth Krakow, Georgia Place-Names (Macon, GA: Winship Press, 65. 12 Cherokee Trail Road Residents Petition to Join State System, Atlanta Constitution, November 24, accessed November Trail%20Road%20Residents &match=1. 13 Forsyth County Heritage Book Committee, The Heritage of Forsyth County, Georgia, (Cumming, GA: Walsworth Publishing Company), 74. 14 Ledbetter, 33, 85. 15 Annette Bramblett, on behalf of the Historical Society of Forsyth County, Inc., Forsyth County, Twentieth-Century Changes, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, Annette Bramblett and George P.

Ingram, The First Era of Change and Development, (Virginia Beach: Donning Company Publishers, 16 By the early Dean Ledbetter had built a cage farm on the route in Cherokee County that housed laying hens. See Ledbetter, Growing Up In Ducktown, 41. 17 The importance of chicken farming to Forsyth is memorialized in a sculpture, at the front steps of the County Administration Building, which was dedicated in It includes a likeness of Rev. Ford Phillips, with a basket of eggs in one arm and a chicken in the other, as representative of chicken farmers in the area. A young girl next to him reportedly stands for all the children who enjoyed the improved standard of living created by the chicken industry. See Bramblett and Ingram, Forsyth County, Twentieth-Century Changes, EVANS HOUSE HABS No.

GA-2447 (Page 5) Part II. Architectural Information A. General Statement 1. Architectural character: The Evans House once served as the farm seat of a former, small, mid-twentieth-century poultry farm. The residence is a single-story, Linear Ranch-type house that stands six-bays wide and two-piles deep. It is built of frame, clad in brick veneer, and topped with a side-gabled, asphalt-shingle roof. Its continuous foundation is masked by its brick cladding. Although the house is plain in its architectural detailing and ornamentation, its linear massing emphasizes the horizontal planes typical of mid-century Ranch house design.

The building is consistent with that of the many other modest Ranch houses built along SR 20 between the towns of Canton and Cumming in Forsyth and Cherokee counties during the and 2. Condition of fabric: The condition of the Evans House is good. The building appears to be structurally sound, and its exterior is in good repair. B. Description of Exterior 1. Overall dimensions: The Evans House is one-story tall, six-bays wide, and two-piles deep. It is linear in plan and features a partially enclosed single-bay carport at its eastern end. The building s western end features a slightly forward-projecting block which holds the house s two westernmost bays (Figure 3). 2. Foundations: The building s continuous foundation is masked by brick veneer. 3.

Walls: Multi-colored brick veneer clads the building s exterior walls. The material appears original to the building s construction. 4. Structural system, framing: The structural system of the house could not be identified. The width of its walls and its ca. construction date suggests it is of frame construction. 5. Porches, stoops, balconies, porticoes, bulkheads: A three-bay, recessed porch embraces the building s north (front) facade. It is supported by three wrought iron porch supports which feature vine and leaf motifs and are framed at their tops by metal brackets of the same style. The posts rest on a raised concrete slab clad with brick veneer on its sides, which serves as the porch deck. It is accessed by three brick stairs on its eastern end. EVANS HOUSE HABS No.

GA-2447 (Page 6) A raised concrete-slab patio extends from the eastern end of the building s south (rear) facade. The patio abuts the building s rear door and is a late twentieth/early twenty-first century addition. 6. Chimneys: n/a 7. Openings a. Doorways and doors: The residence has six exterior doors. Its primary entrance occupies the central bay of the north (front) facade and is sheltered by the house s recessed porch. The opening holds an original six-panel wood door fronted by a modern glass storm door. A second door of this style is found on the eastern facade of the building s front-projecting block at its western end. It too is sheltered by the recessed front porch.

Two doors are additionally found within the building s carport, one on its southern wall and one on its western wall. Both doors are placed off-center and just a few feet from the juncture of both walls. The wood doors appear to be wood slab and display one-over-one rectangular lights at their tops, with a large recessed rectangular panel below. The doors appear to be original or early replacements. The building s remaining two doors are found at its rear and frame either edge of the rear modern concrete patio slab. The westernmost of these openings holds a paired set of modern fiberglass doors with large rectangular glass at their centers. The easternmost opening holds a single fiberglass door.

It is also a modern replacement and features a large, single light at its top and a raised panel below. b. Windows and shutters: Four of the building s six bays on its north (front) facade hold windows. Situated between the carport and the house s primary entrance, this bay holds a band of three one-over-one sash windows set in aluminum surrounds. A single window of this same type is found directly west of the doorway, although it is smaller in size. Two more windows of the same type and size comprise the two westernmost bays of the facade and are centrally placed on the facade s front-projecting block. Only one window, a small, one-over-one light sash window, is found on the building s eastern elevation. It rests beneath the carport on the south side of the carport s eastern door.

A single window of the same size and type is found on the building s western elevation, placed off-center near the building s southwest corner. Six windows of this typical type, although varying in size, punctuate the building s south (rear) facade. 8. Roof a. Shape, covering: The roof is side-gabled and clad in asphalt shingles. b. Cornice, eaves: The house has no cornice and its overhanging eaves are unornamented. EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 7) C. Description of Interior Interior access to the house was not made available. D. Site 1.

Historic landscape design: According to historic aerials, the land on which the Evans House stands was heavily wooded and void of any buildings until At this time a small residence, roughly two-thirds the length of the current Evans House, was constructed on the current Evans House site. A driveway was cut on the eastern side of the parcel and appears to occupy the same footprint as the resource s current driveway. Two large chicken houses, oriented east to west, were also built at this time to the rear (south) of the house.18 Between and the small concrete-block shed that currently sits to the southeast of the Evans House was constructed. During this seven-year time span, a mature road network was created on the parcel.

These dirt paths linked the small house, shed and two chicken houses to one another, in addition to SR 20 (which bounds the property to the north) and Evans Road (which bounds the property to the south).19 By the smaller house had disappeared from the landscape and the present-day Evans House stood in its place. The chicken houses remained extant on the property until ca. when they were demolished.20 Two sheds were constructed at the southeastern corner of the parcel sometime between and these were identified as non-historic in Between and a large metal-clad garage building was constructed to the rear of the house, near the demolished chicken houses. Today, this shed building sits on a separate parcel from the Evans House, which is also owned by Gary Evans.

During the early much of the Evans House parcel and the adjacent Evans parcel was paved over. The construction of this modern garage and the hardscaping of a significant portion of both parcels has altered the parcel s overall appearance so that it no longer manifests a mid-twentieth-century poultry farm. Rather, the parcel manifests solely as a mid-twentieth-century residential property (Figure 5 and Figure 6). 2. Outbuildings: Shed : Located approximately 25 -0 off the southeast corner of the Evans House, the small frame shed was constructed between and The front-gabled, concrete block building stands one-story tall and is oriented to the west. It is rectangular in plan 18 Historic Aerials, and aerials.

19 Historic Aerials, and aerials (images), aerial image search of Canton Highway, Netronline, accessed November 20 Google Earth, aerial (image), aerial image search of Canton Highway, Google Earth Desktop Application, accessed November 21 Historic Aerials, and aerials. EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 8) with a small shed-roof addition extending from its southern (side) facade. The building s roof is topped with standing seam metal, as are the tops of its gable ends. Corrugated metal clads the shed s eastern gable end in addition to sides of the shed roof addition. Two openings are found on the building s western (front) facade and hold a replacement fiberglass door and replacement roller-track garage door.

A second, smaller roller-track garage door is centered on the western facade of the southern shed-roof addition (Figure 7). Part III. Sources of Information A. Selected Sources Atlanta Constitution. Cherokee Trail Road Residents Petition to Join State System. November 24, Accessed November . Floods, Winds Plague Georgia. April 3, Accessed November a&match=1. Bramblett, Annette. Forsyth County, Twentieth-Century Changes. Historical Society of Forsyth County, Inc. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, Bramblett, Annette, with George P. Ingram. The First Era of Change and Development: Forsyth County, Georgia, Virginia Beach: Donning Company Publishers, Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc., Historic Resources Survey Report: GDOT Projects and Cherokee and Forsyth Counties (P.I. Nos.

HP No. Prepared for Georgia Department of Transportation, copy on file at GDOT Office of Environmental Services, Atlanta, Findagrave.com. Eugene Evans. Electronic Database. Accessed October at (includes photograph). . Evans. Electronic Database. Accessed November at . Sarah Francis Evans. Electronic Database. Accessed October at (includes photograph). EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 9) Forsyth County Board of Tax Assessors. Property Records Search for Canton Accessed January at Forsyth County Heritage Book Committee, The Heritage of Forsyth County, Georgia, Cumming: Walsworth Publishing Company, Forsyth County Clerk of Court Office, Cumming, GA. Deed Book 16, Page 29, Deed Book 28, Page Deed Book Page Google Earth. Historic Aerials: Canton Highway. Electronic Resource.

Accessed November via Google Earth Desktop Application. Krakow, Kenneth. Georgia Place-Names. Macon: Winship Press. Ledbetter, Linda. Growing Up In Ducktown. Self-published, no date. Netronline. Historic Aerials: Forsyth County. Electronic Resource. Accessed November Post Office Department. Map of Forsyth County, Ga. Showing Rural Delivery Service. County Maps, Surveyor General, RG Georgia Archives, collection/cmf/id/319/rec/1. Sullivan, Patrick, Mary Beth Reed and Tracey Fedor: The Ranch House in Georgia: Guidelines for Evaluation. Stone Mountain, GA: New South Associates, house_guidelines. EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 10) Part IV. Supplemental Material Figure 1: Evans House Location Map. EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 11) Figure 2: Evans House Site Map. EVANS HOUSE HABS No.

GA-2447 (Page 12) Figure 3: Oblique of Evans House, north (front) and west (side) facades. View looking southeast. (Photograph by Sarah Potere, July EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 13) Figure 4: Contextual view of Evans House from SR 20. View looking southwest. (Photography by Rob Tucher, April EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 14) Figure 5: View of modern garage building to rear of Evans House. View looking southeast. (Photography by Sarah Potere, July EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 15) Figure 6: Context view of rear (south) of Evans House from modern garage building. View looking northeast. (Photography by Sarah Potere, July EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 16) Figure 7: Oblique view of Shed, west (front) and north (side) facades. View looking southeast.

(Photography by Sarah Potere, July EVANS HOUSE HABS No. GA-2447 (Page 17) Recommendation and Assessment of Eligibility22 National Register Recommendation: The property is considered Eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register Criteria and Level of