Nickels-Milam House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

From the record

“Nickels-Milam House is a historic plantation house located near Laurens, Laurens County, South Carolina. It was built about 1828, and is a three-story, five-bay, Greek Revival style frame dwelling.”
Wikipedia article Nickels-Milam House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 26 National Register listings published here for Laurens County · listed in 1976 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building, 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
Address. S of Laurens off U.S. 221, Laurens, 29370
When was it listed? May 1976
Category. building
Census division. Laurens
Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture
National Register reference number. 76001705 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

89 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 89 fires within 5 miles of Nickels-Milam House between 1992 and 2019, burning about 505 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 11 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	40
Debris and open burning	18
Arson/incendiarism	11
Railroad operations and maintenance	4
Smoking	4
Natural	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	3
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Power generation/transmission/distribution	2
Recreation and ceremony	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
6 September 1997	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
21 September 2019	Debris and open burning	7.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
21 September 2019	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
16 September 2003	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
10 September 1993	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
1 September 1998	Misuse of fire by a minor	2.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
31 August 2001	Debris and open burning	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
22 August 1993	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Laurens County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Nickels-Milam House: 4 past producers, 4 unknowns, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Vermiculite, Mica, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Granite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Bailey Mine	Mica	Past Producer
Cold Point Granite Company Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken, Granite	Past Producer	1910
Bradshaw	Vermiculite	Unknown	Metamorphosed Igneous Intrusion
Hudging Mine	Vermiculite	Producer	Metamorphosed Igneous Intrusion
Ivey Mine	Vermiculite	Unknown	Metamorphosed Igneous Intrusion
Mims Mine	Vermiculite	Unknown	Metamorphosed Igneous Intrusion
Monroe Mine	Vermiculite	Past Producer	Metamorphosed Igneous Intrusion.
Powers Mine	Vermiculite	Past Producer	Metamorphosed Igneous Intrusion
Triston Mine	Vermiculite	Producer	Metamorphosed Igneous Intrusion
W.L. Patterson Mine	Vermiculite	Unknown	Metamorphosed Igneous Intrusion

Every working recorded in Laurens County

Storms near this property

60 of 89 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Laurens, the town this property stands in, in 89 storm reports between 1995 and 2021: 47 thunderstorm wind, 29 hail, 3 flash flood, 3 tornado. The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
January 2005	Tornado (F2)	Laurens	1 hurt, $2,000,000	This tornado touched down in the Ekom Community southwest of the city of Laurens, where it damaged a couple of mobile homes. The tornado then tracked northeast to the area around Laurens High School, where some small sheds were destroyed and a portion of the roof removed from a house. At the high school, the roof of a brick concession facility was blown off. Just east of the school, a mobile home was destroyed and a building received significant roof damage. The tornado continued northeast toward the Whelon Rd area, uprooting and snapping off several large trees. A small, frame guest house was damaged and a tractor overturned in this area. The tornado continued to snap and uproot large trees as it moved toward Welcome Church Rd, where 4 mobile homes were damaged and a frame home received minor roof damage. The damage path continued northeast, but ended about 200 yards north of highway 14. After briefly lifting, the tornado struck a tire distribution center just north of the highway 221 I-385 exchange. The roof of a building at the plant was damaged, which sparked a large fire in the building, burning it to the ground. An employee at the plant received minor injuries when debris fell on him. The tornado dissipated near highway 221 north of Laurens.
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	1 hurt	A tree was blown over onto a house, injuring one occupant. Several other trees down in the same area.
June 1997	Heavy Rain	Laurens	1 hurt	Thunderstorms dumped a large amount of rain along Interstate 385 during the late afternoon. Many cars hydroplaned. One man whose car spun out of control and rested on the shoulder, got out of his car only to be pulled into a culvert filled with 2 to 3 feet of raging water. After being sucked through a drainage pipe a State Trooper rescued him, leaving him with only a few injuries.
March 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	$50,000	Spotter reported trees and power lines down throughout the city of Laurens, from around Stagecoach Rd, through the city and east to the around the Laurens County hospital. One tree fell and significantly damaged a home on Stuart St in Laurens.
April 1999	Hail	Laurens	$50,000	no account filed
June 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	$25,000	no account filed
June 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	$10,000	no account filed
April 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	$5,000	no account filed
May 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	$1,000	Public reported multiple trees and minor damage to some sheds near Ware Shoals.
January 2006	Tornado (F0)	Laurens	$1,000	This very small, weak tornado touched down at the Mountville post office, tearing the aluminum roof off of a loading dock and scattering the debris about 100 feet.
September 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	$1,000	Some power lines were blown down.
July 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	$1,000	no account filed
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	County comms reported trees blown down at Sunset Park Ext and Anderson Drive, at Jonella St and E Farley Ave in Laurens, and at Spruce St and Cedar St in Clinton.
October 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	County comms reported a couple of trees blown down in the Laurens area.
March 2017	Hail	Laurens	-	Spotters reported penny to nickel size hail south and east of Laurens.
January 2014	Hail	Laurens	-	Hail ranging from pea size to penny size was reported between Laurens and Clinton.
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Quite a few trees were blown down across the north and west part of the county from the Gray Court area, across Hickory Tavern and the Boyd Mill Pond area to near Ware Shoals.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Multiple trees were blown down in Laurens and up to four miles east of town.
August 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Several trees were blown down from the city of Laurens north to around I-385.
September 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Numerous trees were blown down throughout the city of Laurens.
April 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Trees were blown down across the town of Laurens.
February 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Two trees were blown down. One tree was blown onto a power line.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Several trees were blown down across the city.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Several large trees were blown down on Relax St, at least one of which fell on a house. Also, A carport was blown into a road.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	A couple of trees were blown down on Ghost Creek Rd.
June 2008	Hail	Laurens	-	Reported on highway 252.
January 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	The tops of trees were blown into a road in Laurens. Also, a tree was blown down near exit 5 on I-385.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Trees blown down.
June 2006	Heavy Rain	Laurens	-	Torrential rain from a thunderstorm caused the Little River to rise rapidly and briefly flood the bridge on Main St. Also, N. Harper St was closed for a little while at an intersection due to poor drainage flooding.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Several trees down in the Greenpond Rd area.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Quite a few trees down in the Laurens area.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	A large tree down blocking Ekom Beach Rd and other trees down on Finley Circle.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	A tree down on highway 308 near highway 221, with a large tree down on Warrior Creek Rd and smaller trees down on Fleming Mill Rd.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	A tree down on Beattie St., and another tree down on Langston Church Rd.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Trees down on Indian Mound Rd.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	A tree down on Longview Rd in Laurens and another tree down in Waterloo. A spotter reported a tree on a home in Laurens.
November 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Several trees blown down in the southern part of the county.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Several trees down in town, and also on highway 56 around Clinton.
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Trees down on highway 76.
September 2004	Tornado (F0)	Laurens	-	This brief, weak tornado blew down a few trees.
September 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Some trees were blown down along Indian Mound Rd.
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	The tops were blown out of several large trees.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	Numerous trees were blown down along Fleming Mill Rd.
June 2001	Hail	Laurens	-	Dime-sized hail fell on the east side of Laurens.
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	911 center reported trees and power lines down in Gray Court and Laurens. Up to 200 trees were reported down in and around Laurens, with some falling on houses. There was local flooding due to debris piling up.
June 2001	Flash Flood	Laurens	-	Little River flooded within the city limits. Numerous low spots were blocked by standing water. Cars stalled in flood water on US 76.
July 2001	Hail	Laurens	-	Dime-sized hail reported near the WSSL radio tower.
September 1998	Hail	Laurens	-	Numerous reports of hail, some up to quarter size were received from several spotters around Laurens and Clinton
March 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	A line of thunderstorms moving across the upstate during the early morning hours produced sporadic and marginal severe weather. Large hail fell briefly in the Duncan, Wellford, and Lyman areas and winds blew down a few trees in Laurens County. High winds, just below severe intensity were reported in a number of areas. Large quantities of small hail fell around Seneca and there were several other reports of pea- to marble-size hail.
May 2012	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
August 2012	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
September 2011	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
May 2010	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
April 2009	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurens	-	no account filed
May 2006	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
May 2006	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed
April 2005	Hail	Laurens	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Laurens County

Newspapers printed here

14,142 digitised pages

1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 1,787 issues, 14,142 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.

Newspaper	Published
The Laurens Advertiser	1885 to 1973

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Albright-Dukes House	4.5 miles	1986
South Harper Historic District	4.6 miles	1986
Sitgreaves House	4.6 miles	1986
Irby-Henderson-Todd House	4.7 miles	1983
Dr. William Claudius Irby House	4.7 miles	1986
Wilson-Clary House	4.8 miles	1986

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 76001705 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Laurens County	All 26 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.