Harper-Featherstone Tenant Farm, County Road 81, Lowndesville

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS SC,1-LOWN.V,2-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

.1 mile west of County Road 81, 2.1 miles southwest of its junction with County Road 65, 4.6 miles south- west of the intersection of County Road 65 and State Highway 81, .9 mile east of the Savannah River, Lowndesville vicinity, Abbeville County, South Carolina. USGS Lowndesville Quadrangle, Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinates:

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS SC,1-LOWN.V,2-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This house is a log structure expanded by frame addi- tions to adapt to changing needs. A handful of remaining outbuildings illustrates the many func- tions that this tenant farm served. PART

Historical Information

This farm is part of the original Harper-Featherstone Farm (see HABS No. . The hewn log house with dovetailed corner notching was probably built before the Civil War, but no informa- tion is available to confirm the structural evidence. It is specu- lated that this building was originally a slave quarters. Certain- ly it is an appropriate size and configuration to have been used for such a purpose on the Harper Plantation. The house was altered in the when one of Robert Morrow's sons moved in. A carpenter was hired to install homosote on the interior walls after the interstices between the logs were covered with boards, and the fireplace was repaired, using some new bricks. At the same time, bricks were placed under the porch to replace the stones.

The exterior siding was probably also added at this time, but no information was obtained to confirm this. The house was occupied between and by Lester Morrow after the Harper-Featherstone House burned. Morrow then moved into a trailer in front of the house. Prepared by: LeAnne Baird Project Historian HABS Summer HARPER-FEATHERSTONE TENANT FARM HABS NO. (page 2) PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION A. General Statement 1. Architectural character: This house has a hewn log section, joined with half-dovetail notching, and two frame additions. 2. Condition of fabric: good B. Description of Exterior 1. Overall dimensions: The one-story L-shaped house meas- ures x with a wide porch across the north front. 2. Foundations: The house is raised approximately above grade on piers.

Brick piers are used on the peri- meter, with stone and a few stacked-log piers on the interior. 3. Walls: Each shingle of the white asbestos siding meas- ures x 10 with V deeP scalloping on the bottom edges. 4. Structural system, framing: The east section of the structure is constructed of hewn logs x 7", con- nected with half-dovetail joinery. Additions on the west and south are frame, using 4" x 4" studs with diagonal corner bracing. The floor joists are logs 6" in diameter running in a north-south direction. They are notched to form a flat surface for resting on the sills. The roof rafters are logs approximately 3" to 4" in diameter, notched and pegged at the ridge. 5. Porches: The porch across the north front has a wood floor with tongue-and-groove planking 5 wide.

The roof of the main house pitches out slightly to cover the porch; it is supported on plain wood posts. The porch on the southwest corner of the house is con- structed of similar materials. 6. Chimneys: There are two common-bond, red brick chimneys. The one on the east side has a stone foundation, two pairs of shoulders, and corbeling at the top. The chim- ney on the southwest corner is square. HAKPER-FEATHERSTONE TENANT FARM HABS NO. (page 3) 7. Openings: a. Doorways and doors: The two doors on the north front have glass in the upper half over three wood panels. The door on the west end of the south side is wood paneled. The door on the east end of the south side is vertical boards with horizontal brac- ing. This door has a box lock and hand-wrought sur- face hinges. b.

Windows: All of the windows have six-over-six-light double-hung sash. 8. Roof: The gable roof with its ridge running east-west is covered with standing-seam metal. The slope changes to a shallower pitch over the front porch. C. Description of Interior 1. Floor plans: The house was built in three sections, form- ing an L-shape. The east front section, constructed of logs, is divided into two rooms by a thin partition. South of this is a frame section, also divided into two rooms. West of the log section is another frame room. 2. Stairways: None 3. Flooring: There is subflooring spanning the joists east- west. The flooring is tongue-and-groove boards, except in the south central room, where there is planking. The floor of the southeast room is covered with linoleum. 4.

Wall and ceiling finish: The walls and ceilings are covered with 4' x 81 sheets of homosote with 1" battens at the seams. There are baseboards at the floor and quarter-round moldings at the ceiling. The walls and ceilings are painted. The west wall of the southeast room has vertical boards 6V wide. 5. Doorways and doors: The interior doors are made of vert- ical boards with horizontal braces. 6. Decorative features: The mantelpiece has been removed and the fireplace has been closed except for a stovepipe opening. Next to the fireplace is a rectangular opening, now closed over, which was probably used for an air-con- ditioner. HARPER-FEATHERSTONE TENANT FARM HABS NO. (page 4) D. Site General setting: The house sits on the crest of a knoll with a large pecan orchard to the north.

The land slopes away to the south and east, where there are large fields. The outbuildings are located north and south of the house Outbuildings: a. Smokehouse: The smokehouse may have been built as early as but it was most likely built by Robert Morrow while he and his sons were tenants on the farm after The smokehouse, which measures approximately x is constructed of round pine logs, 6" to 8" in diameter, saddle- notched at the corners, with planking covering the interstices. The hewn log sill rests directly on the ground. There is a corrugated metal-covered gable roof with weatherboarding in the gables. On the interior there is a ceiling but no floor. The doorway in the north gable end is framed with boards. b.

Well House: The well house in front of the house measures approximately x It is framed with log studs, with sawn wood used for the roof framing and openings. The walls as well as the gable roof are covered with standing-seam metal siding. There is a vertical plank door on the east side and a small window on the north side. The flooring is concrete with the well opening at the north edge of the floor plan. The structure housed an electric generator and a pump for the well. c. Banjo-Making Shop: This small frame outbuilding was constructed by Lester Morrow in the mid-twentieth century as a workshop, where he made banjos and tra- ditional wooden children's toys to sell in local outlets. The almost square structure measures x and is located north of the house in the pecan orchard.

The frame building is covered with standing-seam metal on the roof and walls. The shed roof slopes to the north. The vertical- plank door is on the south side. A house trailer was located 20' to the north at one time. d. Privy: The privy is a small frame structure, 6' square, located southeast of the house. It has a shed roof sloping east and is covered with metal. HARPER-FEATHERSTONE TENANT FARM HABS NO. (Page 5) e. Animal Shed: This haphazard structure is located south of the house in an overgrown area enclosed by a barbed wire fence. It measures approximately 9' x 13' ; the south side has collapsed. A variety of materials was used in its construction: standing- seam metal, planks, tarpaper, cut lumber, and log posts. There are no foundations. The door is on the north side. f.

Mule Barn: The mule barn is a collapsed structure with only the roof still intact. The structure, which measured x was log with a frame roof covered with corrugated metal. There was a frame opening in the north gable end. Prepared by: Richard J. Cronenberger Project Supervisor HABS Summer PART III, SOURCES OF INFORMATION See Harper-Featherstone Farm, HABS No. for sources of informa- tion. PART IV. PROJECT INFORMATION The documentation of the historic resources within the Richard B.

Russell Dam project was undertaken by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), of the National Architectural and Engineering Record (NAER), a division of the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service in cooperation with Interagency Archeological Services (IAS), Atlanta, Georgia, and cosponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District Office in compliance with Executive Order as a mitigative effort in construction of the dam. The project was executed under the direction of Robert Kapsch, Chief of NAER; John Poppeliers, Chief of HABS; and Kenneth L. Anderson, Principal Architect, in the HABS field office, Elberton, Georgia. Recording was conducted during the summer of by Richard J.

Cronen- berger (staff architect), project supervisor; LeAnne Baird (University of Nebraska), project historian; Marcie L. Robertson (University of Georgia), assistant historian; Dennis M. O'Kain (University of Georgia), project photographer; Reginald A. Berry (staff architect), foreman; William F. Hand (Auburn University) foreman; and student architects Carol B. DeGroote (University of Maryland), Dale R. Gerber (University of Minnesota), Cynthia Wilson-Glicksman (University of Arizona), and Mark Schara (University of Michigan). The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) historian was John P. Johnson. The clerk-typist was Teena Kenimer (University of Georgia). The written data were edited in the HABS Washington Office by Alison K.

Hoagland in February ADDENDUM TO: HABS HARPER-FEATHERSTONE TENANT FARM SC,1-LOWN.V,2- Richard B. Russell Dam Project County Road 81 Lowndesville vicinity Abbeville County South Carolina FIELD RECORDS HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior C Street NW Washington, DC