HomeMy WebLinkAboutNational Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 10024-0018
(Oct. 1990)
United States Department of the Interior 7
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Registration Form
This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or
by entering the information requested. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions,
architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional
entries and narrative items on continuation sheets(NPS Form 10-900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items.
1. Name of Property
historic name Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads Historic District
other names/site number
2. Location
street & number__Rural village centered around intersections of Efland- ❑ not for publication
Cedar Grove Road (SR 1357) and Carr Store Road (SR 1004) .
city or town Cedar Grove ❑ vicinity
state North Carolina code NC county Orange code 135 Zip code 27231
3. State/Federal Agency Certification
As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this il nomination
❑ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of
Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property
® meets ❑ does not meet the National Register criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant
❑ nationally ❑ statewide IX locally. (❑ See continuation sheet for additional comments.)
Signature of certifying official/Title Date
State of Federal agency and bureau
In my opinion, the property ❑ meets ❑ does not meet the National Register criteria. (❑ See continuation sheet for additional
comments.)
Signature of commenting official/Title Date
State or Federal agency and bureau
4. National Park Service Certification
I hereby certify that the property is: Signature of the Keeper Date of Action
❑ entered in the National Register.
❑ See continuation sheet.
❑ determined eligible for the
National Register
❑ See continuation sheet.
❑ determined not eligible for the
National Register.
❑ removed from the National
Register.
❑ other, (explain:)
Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads Orange County, NC
Name of Property County and State
5. Classification
Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property
(Check as many boxes as apply) (Check only one box) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.)
[N private ❑ building(s) Contributing Noncontributing
❑ public-local ® district 44 21
El public-State El site
buildings
fJ public-Federal ❑ structure 9 0 sites
❑ object 7 5
structures
0 0 objects
60 26 Total
Name of related multiple property listing Number of contributing resources previously listed
(Enter "NIA" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) in the National Register
N/A N/A
6. Function or Use
Historic Functions Current Functions
(Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions)
Domestic/Secondary Structure Domestic/Secondary Structure _
Domestic/Single Dwelling Domestic/Single Dwelling
Religion/Religious Facility Religion/Religious Facility
Religion/Church Related Residence Vacant/Not In Use
Funerary/Cemetery Funerary/Cemetery
Commerce/Trade/Department Store Commerce/Trade/Department Store
Corunerce/Trade/Specialty Store Commerce/Trade/Specialty Store
See Continuation Sheet See Continuation Sheet
7. Description
Architectural Classification Materials
(Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions)
Mid-19th Century foundation Brick
Late Victorian walls Weatherboard
Colonial Revival Brick
See Continuation Sheet. roof Asphalt
other Concrete
Narrative Description
(Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.)
See Continuation Sheet.
Cedar Grove Rural- Crossroads Orange County, NC
Name of Property County and State
8. Statement of Significance
Applicable National Register Criteria Areas of Significance
(Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property (Enter categories from instructions)
for National Register listing.)
Agriculture
A Property is associated with events that have made Architecture
a significant contribution to the broad patterns of Ethnic Heritage/Black
our history.
Community Development
❑ B Property is associated with the lives of persons Social History
significant in our past.
L C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics
of a type, period, or method of construction or
represents the work of a master, or possesses
high artistic values, or represents a significant and
distinguishable entity whose components lack Period of Significance
individual distinction. Early nineteenth-century - 1947
❑ D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield,
information important in prehistory or history.
Criteria Considerations Significant Dates
(Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Ca. 1880
Property is: 1897
❑ A owned by a religious institution or used for 1912
religious purposes. See Continuation Sheet.
Significant Person
❑ B removed from its original location. (Complete if Criterion B is marked above)
N/A
❑ C a birthplace or grave.
Cultural Affiliation
❑ D a cemetery. N/A
❑ E a reconstructed building, object, or structure.
❑ F a commemorative property.
❑ G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance Architect/Builder
within the past 50 years. Liner, Henry
McDade, Charlie
Narrative Statement of Significance
(Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.)
9. Major Bibliographical References
Bibliography
(Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.)
Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data:
preliminary determination of individual listing (36 K State Historic Preservation Office
CFR 67) has been requested ❑ Other State agency
❑ previously listed in the National Register ❑ Federal agency
❑ previously determined eligible by the National ❑ Local government
Register ❑ University
❑ designated a National Historic Landmark ❑ Other
❑ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository:
# Orange County Planning Degart.menti
❑ recorded by Historic American Engineering
Record #
Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads Orange County, NC
Name of Property County and State
10 Geographical Data
Acreage of Property + 125 Wires
UTM References
(Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.)
1111111111111111 1 11 3 � i1111111 111111
(Zone I IEasting Worthing II (Zone I Easting I Worthing
2 W 1 � I � II � llll � lll 4 111111 1 11111111
❑ See continuation sheet
Verbal Boundary Description
(Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.)
Boundary Justification
(Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.)
11 Form Prepared By
name/title Kaye Graybeal
organizationDSAtlantic Corporation date December 1, 1997
street & number 7820 North Point Blvd. , Suite 200 telephone (910) 759-7400
city or town Winston-Salem state NC zip code 27106
Additional Documentation
Submit the following items with the completed form:
Continuation Sheets
Maps
A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.
A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources.
Photographs
Representative black and white photographs of the property.
Additional items
(Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items)
Property Owner
(Complete this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.)
name
street & number telephone
city or town state zip code
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate
properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain
a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended(16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including time for reviewing
instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect
of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of
Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects(1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503.
tJS GOVERNKENP PRINTING OFFICE : 1993 0 — 350-416 QL 3
NPS Form 10-900-a
is-86) OM8 APPMval No.1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 1
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION
Located in the northwest comer of Orange County, Cedar Grove Rural Crossroad Historic District lies within
an unincorporated community originating at the intersection of Carr Store Road(State Road 1004), and
Efland-Cedar Grove Road(State Road 1357). The intersection of the two-lane paved roads is situated within
a slightly elevated rural landscape approximately eleven miles northwest of Hillsborough, the county seat,
and about one mile east of the Eno River. The community retains a variety of once-typical crossroads
building types and uses, including two store buildings, two churches, a post office, and residences, all
providing a physical framework that contributes to a sense of ongojgg vitality. For the most part, the non-
domestic structures are clustered at the crossroads while the residences emanate from the intersection for just
under a half-mile stretch to the north and east. Some of the original English cedar trees for which the
community was named in the late eighteenth century are located at the southeast corner of the intersection.
Many of the residential lawns are shaded by large oaks and magnolia trees. The built resources punctuate
expanses of pasture and cultivated land framed by woodlands. The undulating farm land is laid out in fields
and pastures delineated by treelines, fences, and the two narrow main roads with their grassy verges-all
remaining relatively unchanged during the last five decades (Exhibits 2 and 3: Orange County Agricultural
Aerial Maps 1938 and 1951). Thus, the natural and agrarian countryside overlaid with the built environment
constitutes a significant cultural landscape which embodies the essential character of the once-typical rural
crossroads community.
The most prominent built resources of the Cedar Grove crossroads community, in addition to the crossroads
themselves, include two each of historically significant and architecturally notable Colonial Revival houses,
churches and store buildings. With the exception of one of the houses and one of the churches, these
resources are concentrated at the crossroads. Most of the built resources are houses that lack significance
individually,but as a group possess intrinsic value as components of the crossroads community pattern of
development. The architectural landscape of the community is one of a rural vernacular aesthetic, and
although most of the primary barns associated with the farmsteads have disappeared, sufficient physical
vestiges in the form of field patterns strongly allude to the historical agrarian character of the community.
Cedar Grove's existence as a rural community began in 1828, when the community's first post office was
established at the former site of the Finley house on the southeast comer of the crossroads where the
contemporary Mildred Finley House(14)now stands(Powell 1968,p. 96/Councilman 1981). Throughout
the nineteenth century the community served as a commercial, social, and educational center for agrarian
families in the vicinity. By 1850 the Cedar Grove community not only boasted a private academy, but also a
tanner, a coachmaker, a doctor, a post office and three businesses including a drygoods store,a blacksmith,
and a grocer(Manufacturing Census 1850). The ca. 1845 Cedar Grove Academy was located on the now-
vacant site to the adjacent east of the Rogers-McDade House(10). A period photograph indicates that the
school building was a two-story, frame, triple-A structure with a full-facade hipped porch with a spindlework
cornice. The four-over-four windows were set in segmentally arched openings. The double-leafed central
entrance set within a projecting central bay. A four-sided pedimented cupola crowned the roof(1800s
photograph located at the Historical Museum in Hillsborough,NC). Later in the nineteenth century,
NPS Form 10-300-a
(8-86( OMB Approval No.1024-W IS
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 2
structures housing a sawmill, a grist mill,two churches and several large residences were present(Carter and
Peck 1993,p. 22/Branson 1889,p.499/Manufacturing Census 1850).
During the 1920s, 1930s, and into the 1940s, a variety of enterprises established in the early 1900s were still
thriving. Businesses such a physician's office, a blacksmith, and a pharmacy continued to serve the
community. The early twentieth-century pharmacy building had been moved in 1913 from the site of the
current Ligon Commercial Building(19) to the site on the adjacent east of the Dr. Claude M. Hughes House
(9). A three-story frame flour mill was at that time erected on the original site of the pharmacy. The flour
mill was destroyed by fire ca. 1931. Two still-vital churches, Eno Presbyterian (26) and Cedar Grove(20),
established in 1756 and 1832 respectively, continued to serve the community as well as did two general
stores,known as Ellis' (12) and Oliver's (16). In the mid-1940s the north-south Efland-Cedar Grove Road
(SR 1357) was paved and the east-west Carr Store Road(SR 1004)was paved in 1958. These roads retain
the crossroads configuration depicted on an 1891 map of Orange County as well as early physical
characteristics relating to their width and grassy verges.
Currently, the frame gable-front Allison-Oliver-Pender Store(16), in operation since the 1880s, is flanked by
mid-twentieth-century buildings, the Cedar Grove Post Office(17) on the north and the C.C. Oliver Auto and
Tractor Repair Shop (15)on the south. The repair shop stands on the former site of the late 1800s Oliver's
blacksmith shop at the northwest corner of the crossroads. The Allen A. Ellis Store (12),built in 1923 on the
southeast corner of the crossroads, is also a notable rural vernacular rendition of a commercial store building
and has historically contributed to the perception of the community as a veritable destination point in the
rural county. To the south of the Allen A.Ellis Store on Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR 1357), a plaque
commemorates the historic location of the Cedar Grove well (13f), where according to local history,
nineteenth-century stagecoaches customarily made water stops. The Hughes-Greene House (6), the Burch-
Malone House (7), the Hayes-Hall House(8) are situated to the south of Carr Store Road(SR 1004) facing a
portion.of the roadbed of the former Cedar Grove to Greensboro stagecoach route, which now serves as a
driveway. To the west of the crossroads are two notable early twentieth-century Colonial Revival houses:
the Dr. Claude M. Hughes House(9) and the John House(4), all owned by family descendants. The John
Paisley Hughes House(1), a late 1800s vernacular farmhouse which was also originally oriented to the
stagecoach route, and associated open land anchor the west end of the district.
Two architecturally distinctive church buildings have served as gathering places for community: the Cedar
Grove Methodist(20)erected in 1939 and the Eno Presbyterian(26)erected between 1897 and 1899. The
rustically handsome Methodist Church, a Gothic Revival structure of fieldstone, is sited a short distance to
the north of the crossroads. The cemetery(20a),possessing stones dating to as early as the 1880s radiates
from the north side of the church building and lends to the picturesque setting. Beyond the church to the
north,the landscape becomes more residential in character with a variety of vernacularly interpreted
architectural styles. The Eno Presbyterian Church,a Gothic Revival brick veneered structure anchors the
northernmost end of the district. Thus,the built resources of the community represent a layering of periods
and styles with an underlying continuity of ownership.
NPS Form 10.900=a OMB Approval No.1024-M 18
(8.88)
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County,North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 3
Integrity Statement
The Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads Historic District is comprised of approximately 135 acres and contains
twenty-one contributing primary buildings and five non-contributing primary structures. These non-
contributing structures are unobtrusive in scale and compatibly sited and therefore do not infringe upon the
overall integrity of the this rare, and largely intact crossroads community. Although many of the resources
lack individual significance, the collective whole possesses intrinsic value as an example of the crossroads
pattern of development. The architectural landscape of the community is one of a rural vernacular aesthetic,
and although the primary barns associated with the farmsteads have disappeared, sufficient physical vestiges
in the form of field patterns strongly allude to the historical agrarian character of the community.
Additionally, the crossroads themselves retain much of their early physical appearance with their narrow
width, grassy verges and original configuration. The community of Cedar Grove has for the most part
escaped the proliferation of modern intrusions and today retains the principal historic buildings and
landscape characteristics which lend to its historic integrity.
Potential Archaeological Resources
The scope of this nomination did not include the investigation of potential archaeological resources;
however, land within the district may include archaeological remains which have the potential to yield
information about pre-history and history. The Rogers-McDade House(10) is located on the site of the
former Cedar Grove Academy,built ca. 1845. Documentary photographs dated ca. 1850 indicate the size
and configuration of the building (located at the Hillsborough,N.C.Historical Museum). Across Carr Store
Road(SR 1004) and to the northwest of this site, the Annie L.Hughes House (5)was built on the former site
of the Cedar Grove Public School which was begun in the late 1800s. This school building was moved to
another part of the county in 1915. To the adjacent east of the Claude M. Hughes House(9)was an early
1900s pharmacy building that had been moved in 1913 from the site that is now occupied by the Ligon
Commercial Building(19). The pharmacy building was moved from this site to accommodate the erection of
a grist mill which was destroyed by fire in 1931. Thus,the Ligon Commercial Building site may also have
potential to yield archaeological information. The C. C. Oliver Auto and Tractor Repair Shop(15) is the
former site of an early 1800s blacksmith's shop. On the now vacant northeast comer(18) of the crossroads,
another blacksmith's shop operated by the Finley family in the late 1940s existed as well. The ca. 1910
Finley House was located on the site of the current Mildred Finley House(14). To the east of the Cedar
Grove Methodist Church(20), a few yards from Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR 1357), is the site of the now
demolished original church building erected in 1834. At the northern end of the district, the L..A. Ligon
House(24) is situated on the former site of Dr.Terrell House,the community's second physician who
practiced as early as 1891.
NPS Form f 0-90C•a OMB Approval No.1024-0018
(8.86)
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 4
The Inventory List
The inventory listing for the historic district begins with the property at the western-most end of the district
[John Paisley Hughes House (1)] and proceeds east along both sides of Carr Store Road(SR 1004). At the
intersection with Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR 1357), it turns south to include those properties at the
corners of the crossroads and then runs north along both sides of Efland-Cedar Grove Road (SR 1357).
Each resource is designated as either contributing( C) or noncontributing(NC)] to the historic integrity of
the district. The designation criteria were based on age, condition-and degree of alteration. The type of each
resource is designated as either a building(bldg.), site, or structure (struc.). Each tax parcel is assigned a
number and each secondary resource within a property complex, such as outbuildings or farm and pasture
land, is assigned a letter. These number and letter designations are keyed to an overall map of the district
and to the photographs.
The methodology utilized in the completion of the nomination included three elements: field survey,
research, and personal interviews. First, a field survey covering all resources within the proposed district
was completed according to North Carolina State Historic 'Preservation Office Standards. The resultant
property files include exterior and/or interior photographs, historic data structures sheets, brief physical and
historical descriptions and property sketch maps. Primary research sources included Orange County land
deeds, farm census reports, agricultural maps and schedules,population census reports,business directories,
and nineteenth-century county maps. Secondary resources included an unpublished 1996 manuscript by Rick
L. Mattson entitled History and Architecture of Orange County N C an unpublished 1993 manuscript by
Jody Carter and Todd Peck entitled Historic Resources of Orange County, and a thesis from University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill by Christopher Lomell. Interviews were conducted with long-time residents,
homeowners, and descendants of community founders to supplement and clarify the preliminary interviews
conducted in 1993 by Orange County Planning Department intern Shannon Sexton.
NPS Fortn 10-900-a OMB ApPMp 1 No.1024-W IS
18- 1
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number - Page 5
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
01 Hughes,John Paisley House C bldg. early 1800s S side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft. 2000 Carr Store Rd.
W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
The acreage associated with this house lies on the north and south sides of SR 1004 and is largely composed of cleared land embraced by timber.
The earliest portion of the house is the oldest surviving structure in the Cedar Grove community. This one-story timber-frame section was
constructed in the early 1800s and consisted of a kitchen room and two other rooms. A stone chimney with brick stack is located on the west end
of the house. A two-story,two-bay-deep east-facing house was erected adjoining the east side of the one-story structure ca. 1892 by a local
builder,John Finley. Intersecting this addition is a two-story I-house that extends from the front or east side forming an L-plan.The I-house
appears to be contemporary with the addition or built shortly thereafter. The I-house has two brick exterior end-chimneys,a brick exterior rear
chimney,and 2/2 double-hung windows. The two structures are sheathed in weatherboard siding,rest on a stone foundation,and are covered in a
v-crimp metal roof. The house was originally the centerpiece of a farmstead and has several outbuildings associated with it. These include three
sheds,a corn crib,a barn,two log tobacco barns,and a tenant house. The log tobacco bams and the tenant house are located across Carr-Store
Road(SR 1004)to the northwest of the main house. At the west end of the side-gabled tenant house is a large stone chimney. The occupants of
the early 1800s house are not known;however,the first occupant of the 2-story addition was John Paisley Hughes(1867-1931). He and Lena
McDade moved into the house upon their marriage in 1892(Orange County Marriages 1752-1911).
01a Wood shed C bldg. early 1900s S side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Early 1900s frame shed-roofed open-sided
Olb Barn C bldg. early 1900s S side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Early 1900s small frame front-gable
01c Well house C struc. early 1900s S side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Early 1900s open frame,pyramidal roof
NP$) 10-90C-a
(8.88 OMB Approval No.1024-W18
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 6
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
Old Equipment shed C bldg. 1940s S side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
1940s frame open-front
Ole Corn crib C bldg. early 1900s S side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Early 1900s horizontal board and screen crib.
Olf Cultivated field C site 1960s N side SR 1004 beginning
appx. 900 ft.W of jct w/SR
1357
DESCRIPTION:
This cultivated field remains within the original John Paisley Hughes land tract. The land has historically yielded com and wheat. These crops
were replaced by tobacco during the 1960s and rotated with alfalfa.
Olg Loafing shed - NC struc. early 1900s N side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
W of jet w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Deteriorated open-sided frame structure with flat tin roof.
Olh Tenant house NC bldg. early 1900s N side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
W of jet w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Deteriorated 1-story side-gabled log house.
NPS Fwm 10-NO-a OMB Approval No.1024-XIS
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County,North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 7
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
01i Tobacco barn NC bldg. 1930s- N side SR 2000 ft.W of jct w/
1940s SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Deteriorated 1-1/2-story 1930s-40s log front-gable barn.
01j Tobacco barn NC bldg. 1930s- N side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
1940s W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Deteriorated 1-1/2-story 1930s4Os log front-gable barn.
01k Manufactured house NC struc. Modern S side SR 1004 appx.2000 ft.
W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Modern manufactured house.
011 Pasture C site S side SR 1004 appx. 1500 ft.
W of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
This pasture land remains within the original John Paisley Hughes land tract. The land has historically been and is currently utilized as pasture
land(Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes,July 23, 1997).
02 Hughes,Robert House NC bldg. 1970s S side SR 1004 appx. 1400 ft. 1900 Carr Store Rd.
W of jct w/ SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
1970s brick veneer ranch house.
NPS Form io-900-a
WWI Approva/No.1024-W 1g
� _
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 8
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
02a Garage NC bldg. 1970s
DESCRIPTION:
Modem brick veneer front-gable garage.
03 Eno Presbyterian Manse C bldg. 1925 N side SR 1004 appx.800 ft.W 1815 Carr Store Rd.
of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
The Craftsman bungalow house was built in 1925 by the Eno and Fairfield Presbyterian Churches as a parsonage. The front-gabled roof is
crossed by a gabled dormer over each side facade-each dormer having paired windows. The weatherboarded structure features two interior brick
chimneys and paired 4/1 double-hung windows. The front door is flanked by multi-paned side lights. The wrap-around porch roof is supported
by battered columns on brick piers. A weatherboarded garage of the period is located to the rear northeast of the structure.
Reverend C.D.Whitely,pastor of the Eno Presbyterian Church from 1921-1926,was the first pastor to reside here. Before this manse was built,
pastors resided in Caldwell,a crossroads community located a few miles east of Cedar Grove(Ellis and Ellis 1933).
03a Garage C bldg. ca. 1925
DESCRIPTION:
Ca. 1925 frame front-gable garage with exposed rafters.
04 Tolar,John House C site 1891 W side SR 1357 appx. 1300 ft. 1816 Carr Store Rd.
N of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
The house was built in 1891 for John H.Tolar(1858-1924),a teacher,and his wife,Henrietta Hughes(1867-1931)(Carter and Peck 1993). The
Tolars resided in the house for the remainder of their lives. This 2- 1/2-story four-square frame house exhibits a hipped roof and a large
projecting central roof dormer with gable returns.Two interior brick corbelled chimneys pierce the roof. The entry door possesses one large light
over vertical panels and is flanked by sidelights.The windows are paired 1/1 double-hungs. The wrap-around porch with central gabled
projection is covered by a hipped roof which is punctuated by a central front gable and supported by Doric columns. The structure rests on a
brick foundation. A rear ell is lit with 6/6 double-hung windows. A brick pumphouse is the only surviving outbuilding.
NPS Form 10.900-a
(8-88) OMB Approval No.1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 9
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
04a Pumphouse C bldg. 1930s
DESCRIPTION:
1930s brick front-gable
05 Hughes,Annie L.House C bldg. 1915 N side SR 1004 appx.700 ft.W
of jct w/ SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
The 1-1/2-story side-gabled frame house was built in 1915 by James Henry Liner(1888-1959)for Annie L.Hughes who lived there until her
death ca. 1932. It features a central dormer with returned gables,paired 616 double-hung windows,and an interior brick chimney. A 1920s
garage has a gabled roof and central dormer. In 1901,Annie L.Hughes became principal of Cedar Grove Academy which was located on the site
to the adjacent east of the Rogers-McDade House(l0)and resided on the second floor until the county bought the Academy ca. 1914. She was
the daughter of Samuel W,Hughes,the founder of the Academy. The Annie L.Hughes House was built on the former site of the Cedar Grove
Public School which was begun in the late 1800s.This school building was moved to another part of the county in 1915. Annie L.Hughes
bequeathed the house to her niece Annie H.Hughes who resided there until her death in 1960 (Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes July 14,
1997).
05a Garage C bldg. 1920s
DESCRIPTION:
One-story 1920s frame front-gable garage.
05b Shed C bldg. 1920s
DESCRIPTION:
One-story 1920s small frame shed.
NPS) 10.900-a OMB Approval No.7024-W IS
(a•ast _
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 10
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
06 Hughes-Greene House C bldg. mid to late S side SR 1004 appx.600 ft.W
1800s of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
The mid-to late 1800s one-story frame house is characterized by Greek Revival features including a sidelit,two-paneled entry door with a heavily
molded surround,and 6/6 windows,some with original shutters. The weatherboarded house.is covered by a v-crimp metal roof and rests on stone
piers. Two additions including a side and rear ell adjoin the house. The western portion of the house,added ca. 1912 facing south onto what
appears to be the former stagecoach road,was originally part of the ca. 1860 home of Thomas Cox Ellis(1843-1890)once located on the Dr.
Claude M.Hughes House(9)site and now demolished. A building which once housed a detached frame kitchen with a large stone chimney and
brick stack are also extant. The first-known occupant of the house was Thomas Harvey Hughes(1813-1892). Mary Hughes Greene bought the
house from Hughes upon the death of her husband,Anderson Green,who was the minister of Hawfields and Crossroads Presbyterian Churches
(Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes,July 16, 1997).
06a Kitchen C bldg. late 1800s
DESCRIPTION:
The late 1800s detached frame kitchen building is situated to the north of the house. The 1-story gabled-roof structure has 4/4 and 616 light-
windows and a stone and brick end-chimney.
06b Wood shed C bldg. early 1900s
DESCRIPTION:
Early 1900s frame shed-roofed open-sided shed.
06c Manufactured house NC struc. Modern S side SR 1004 appx.700 ft. W
of jet w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Modem manufactured house.
NPS Farm tOAW-a
18.881 OMB Approval No.1024..W IS
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number Page 11
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
07 Burch-Malone House C bldg. 1880s S side SR 1004 appx.500 ft W
of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Coleman Burch(1825-1907)constructed the 1-story triple-A frame house in the 1880s. The house faces north onto what appears to be a former
stagecoach roadbed. The hall-and-parlor-plan structure is sheathed in weatherboard. The Anginal entry doors are lit with paired panes above
three panels and are covered with spindled and bracketed screen doors. The cornices are returned at the gable diamond-shaped attic vents pierce
all three gables. The house is also characterized by a central ridgeline brick chimney and a three-quarter length porch with chamfered posts and
sawnwork. A rear ell exhibits an exterior brick end chimney,a projecting gable-roofed entry,and two entry doors on each facade. The Burches
boarded female students of Cedar Grove Academy. About 1904,Mary(known as Mollie)Malone(1855-1929),the widow of John Malone(1832-
1896),bought the house and lived there until her death(Sexton interview with Griffen&Haley,February 25, 1995). The family eventually gave
the property to the Cedar Grove United Methodist Church(Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes,July 23, 1997).
08 Hayes-Hall House C bldg. 1880s S side SR 1004 appx.600 ft.W
of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Jim Hayes built this one-story triple-A frame house in the 1880s.The house faces north onto what appears to be the roadbed of a former
stagecoach route. The house is sheathed in weatherboard and features 2/2 double-hung windows,chamfered porch posts,and a star-motif attic
vent located on the front gable. Hayes and his wife Maggie Taylor originally occupied the house. The Hall family inherited the house during the
early 1910s and boarded Cedar Grove Academy students here. Simeon J.Hall(1848-1920)was Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the
Academy in 1892 and 1893(Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes,July 23, 1997/Sexton interview with Estelle Haley and Lois Hughes,
February 1995).
NPS Form f o-goo-.,
(8-86) _ OMB AV0Mv81 No.1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 12
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
09 Hughes,Dr.Claude M.House C bldg. 1912 N side SR 1004 approx.300 ft. 1717 Carr Store Rd.
W of jct with SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
Dr.Claude Murray Hughes(1869-1927)built this center-hall,2-story,double-pile Colonial Revival house in 1912(Carter and Peck, 1993). The
substantial residence is characterized by a hipped,v-crimp metal-sheathed roof,a projecting-gable entry way, 1/1 double-hung windows,and
decorative corbelling on the two interior chimneys. The gables projecting over the front and side facades feature decorative sawnwork. Doric
columns support the wrap-around porch roof. On the interior,a parlor and former bedroom(now a kitchen)are to the west of the center hall and
the dining room and another bedroom are to the east. There are four fireplaces on the first floor. The fireplaces in the center hall,dining room,
and former parlor on the east side of the plan share a chimney.The mantelpieces feature mirrored overmantels and surrounds of ceramic tile
bricks. The two-tiered hall mantel is flanked by colonettes on plinths and the shelf is supported by heavy brackets. Many of the original five-
panel doors in fluted surrounds with bull's eye corner blocks remain. The stair was originally semi-enclosed but was fully enclosed in 1956
(Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes,July 10, 1997). The turned balustrade terminates in a fluted square newell. A vertical beaded board
wainscot lines the staircase,while the second-level walls are sheathed in horizontal beaded board. The second-level ceiling is also sheathed in
bead board. A mid-nineteenth-century 1-story frame kitchen ell with a stone chimney with brick stack was destroyed by a hurricane in 1996. The
vertical board door leading from the main house dining room to the former ell remains.The structure was originally the home of Thomas Cox
Ellis who died in 1890. Thomas Ellis'daughter,Elizabeth Mary Ellis,married Dr.Claude Murray Hughes. In 1912,Dr.Hughes had the larger
house built to the south of the Ellis House which became the kitchen ell. Dr.Hughes was the son of Samuel Hughes who operated the Cedar
Grove Academy between the 1850s and 1884.The Academy was considered one of the best in the county during that period(Blackwelder 1961,
pp. 124-5).
Dr.Hughes'medical practice operated out of the pharmacy that was located between the house and the current site of the C.C.Oliver Auto and
Tractor Repair Shop(15)was moved to this location ca.1913-14 so that a flour mill could be built on the site(Graybeal interview with Lois
Hughes,July 23, 1997). Dr.Hughes,who was known as the"beloved physician,"was very popular among residents of Cedar Grove. He resided
in the house until his death in 1927(Sexton interview with Griffin and Haley interview,February 25, 1995). Dr.Hughes'remains are interred in
the Eno Presbyterian Church Cemetery. His stone reads,"He saved others,himself he could not save."
09a Garage C bldg. 1920s
DESCRIPTION:
One-story 1920s 2-car frame front-gable with shed-roof extension on west side.
09b Storage building C bldg. 19105
DESCRIPTION:
One-story 19 10s frame weatherboarded front-gable building with exposed rafters.
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No.1024-0018
(8.86)
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 13
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
09c Corn crib C bldg. 19105
DESCRIPTION:
One-story 1910s frame shed.
09d Well house C struct. 19105
DESCRIPTION:
1910s small frame front-gable structure.
10 Rogers-McDade House C bldg. 1920 S side SR 1004.appx.400 ft.W 1716 Carr Store Rd.
of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
The Rogers-McDade House was built in 1920 for William Rogers by James Henry Liner(1888-1959),his son-in-law. The frame house has a
gambrel roof, 12/1 double-hung windows and a bungaloid porch with square brick piers and battered columns. Cedar Grove Academy students
boarded here. The Reverend Samuel Freeman Nicks(1874-1946)bought the house in the 1930s for his daughter,Katherine McDade. Nicks was
pastor of the Cedar Grove United Methodist Church(20)from 1933 to 1940 and was the first minister to serve in the current church building
(Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes,July 23, 1997/Sexton interview with Katherine McDade,January 28, 1995). The ca. 1850 Cedar Grove
Academy was located on the site to the adjacent east.
10a Garage C bldg. 1920s
DESCRIPTION:
1920s frame one-story front-gabled with shed-roof shelter on east side.
NPS Form t0-9W.a
(8-881 OMB Mpmva/No.102•f-W 18
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 14
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
11 Patton,Benjamin C.Store C bldg. late 1800s S side SR 1004 appx.200 ft W
of jct w/SR 1357
DESCRIPTION:
The 1-story,5-bay-wide timber frame building dating to the late I800s,was used originally as a school building and later as a general store and
post office(Sexton interview with Katherine McDade,January 28, 1995). The asymmetrical facade of the side-gabled form is crossed by a front-
gabled bay at the north end and is lit with 6/6 double-hung windows. The structure of the building is sheathed in weatherboard,covered by v-
crimp metal sheathed roof,and rests on a stone foundation. It possesses both interior and exterior brick chimneys and both a rear ell and shed
addition. Benjamin C. Patton(1842-1922)taught private school in this building until he became principal of Cedar Grove Academy(on the now
vacant lot to the adjacent west of the store)in the 1880s(Branson 1889,p.499/Pender 1983,p.97). He also operated a general store out of the
building in partnership with his son-in-law,Allen A. Ellis. Patton was a member of the first Board of Education in 1885 and was appointed
county superintendent of schools from 1889 to 1890 (Lefler and Wager 1953,p. 141). He also served as postmaster for the community as the
post office was housed in his store building until 1922. Upon Patton's death in 1922,Ellis erected a store and post office building(12)in 1923 at
the southwest corner of the crossroads,a few yards east of the Patton Store(Pender 1983,p. 104).
12 Ellis,Allen A.Store C bldg. 1923 W side SR 1004 at SW corner
of jct w/SR 1352
DESCRIPTION:
The store building built by Allen A.Ellis in 1923 is an excellent example of a typical early 20th-century rural crossroads store building. This 2-
story,3-bay-wide weatherboarded structure features a cornice supported by paired brackets below a flat roof. The symmetrical facade at the
lower-level is lit by triple-grouped, 1/1 fixed windows flanking the central entrance,while 2/2 double-hung windows light the upper level.
Entrance to the building is gained through a 3-door opening. Beyond the entry doors is a windowed vestibule and a set of interior entry doors.
Both the front and the back porches have hipped roofs supported by square posts. Ellis operated both a general store and a post office here after
the Patton Store building(11),located a few yards west,closed ca. 1923.
13 Ellis,Allen A. House C bldg. ca. 1880 W side SR 1004 appx.200 ft S 5132 Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.
of jct w/SR 1352
DESCRIPTION:
This 1-story hipped roof center-hall cottage was erected in ca. 1880. The symmetrical 3-bay facade is lit with 616 double-hung windows flanking
a central sidelit entrance. The hipped porch roof is supported by chamfered posts with sawn brackets. Allen A.Ellis operated the Ellis Store(12)
which he built by in 1923 on the property to the adjacent north.
NPS Form 10.900-a
(8-86) OM8 Approval No.1024.0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service
Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 15
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
13a Storage building NC bldg. late 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century front-gabled corrugated tin building.
13b Garage NC bldg. late 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century front-gabled corrugated tin building similar to the storage building.
13c Shed NC bldg. late 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century shed-roofed corrugated tin shed.
13d Gazebo NC struc. late 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century frame gazebo.
Be Shed C bldg. early 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Early 20th century board-and-batten shed-roof storage building.
NPS Form 10-900-a
(8-86( _ OM8 Approval No.1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 16
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
13f Well house NC strut. modem
DESCRIPTION:
Modern open-sided frame structure with pyramidal shingled roof.
14 Finley,Mildred House NC bldg. ca. 1960s E side SR 1004 S of jct w/SR 1611 Carr Store Rd.
1352
DESCRIPTION:
The ca. 1960s 1-story side-gabled brick ranch house is now owned by William Hall. The property was the location of the now demolished 1910
Finley House(Graybeal interview with Virginia Boland,July 10, 1997). One of the first post offices in Cedar Grove was located on this site,
probably in the Finley house. The existence of Cedar Grove as a rural community can be traced to around 1828,when the community's first post
office was established with Joseph Allison as its postmaster(Powell 1968&Postmasters of Cedar Grove 1981). Some of the original English
cedar trees for which the community is named are located in the front yard of this house. Community historians relate that a Revolutionary War
colonel by the name of Allison had the trees planted on each side of the crossroads.for a one-mile distance each direction.
14a Garage NC bldg. ca. 1960
DESCRIPTION:
Ca. 1960 side-gabled brick garage.
15 Oliver,C.C.Auto&Tractor C bldg. 1946 N side SR 1004 W of jet w/SR
Repair Shop 1357
DESCRIPTION:
The 1-story concrete block garage building with a stepped parapet was built in 1946 by Charles Crisp Oliver. T.L.Oliver,the father of Charles
Crisp,operated a blacksmith shop on this site in:the early 1900s.
15a Storage building NC bldg. late 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century corrugated metal front-gabled storage building.
NPS Form 70-900-a
le-ael OMB Approval No.1026-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sleet
Section number / Page 17
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
16 Allison-Oliver-Pender Store C bldg. late 1800s W side SR 1357 appx. 100 ft N
of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
The late 1800s frame weatherboarded building is 3-bays wide with a front-gable roof sheathed in v-crimp metal and with returned cornice. The
main facade is lit with 9/9 double-hung windows and is fronted by a hipped porch roof supported by chamfered posts. A small 1-story side
addition,which formerly housed a post office,is lit with 6/6 and 4/4 double-hung windows.The interior of the store retains the original fixtures,
glass display cases and hardwood floors. The structure was erected in the 1880s by the Allison family and has been in continuous operation to the
present day. The Oliver family acquired the store in October 1907 and C.H.Pender and his wife Irene Oliver acquired the store in the 1960s
(Graybeal interview with Irene Oliver Pender,July 16, 1997 and Stephen Finley,August 14, 1997).
16a Shed C bldg. mid 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Mid-20th-century small frame open-front shed.
17 Cedar Grove Post Office NC bldg. 1951-1952 W side SR 1357 appx.300 ft N
of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
The I-story concrete block structure was constructed by Robert Oliver between 1951 and 1952(Graybeal interview with Robert Oliver,July 23,
1997). Throughout the history of the community,the post office was located in various buildings surrounding the crossroads including the now
demolished Finley House on the site of the current Mildred Finley House(14),the Patton Store(11), the Ellis Store(12)and the Allison-Oliver-
Pender Store(16). During the 1930s,the only post office in Orange County north of Hillsborough was located in Cedar Grove(Vukan 1948,p.
61). The present building is non-contributing because of its age.
18 Vacant Land NE Corner of C site NE comer SR 1357&SR 1004
Crossroads
DESCRIPTION:
This parcel of land anchoring the northeast corner of the crossroads was the site of a blacksmith shop and a wheelwright shop operated by the
Finley family well into 1940s(Graybeal interview with Stephen Finley,August 14, 1997). The grassy plot of land has been vacant since the late
1940s.
NPS Form 10-900-a
Ome Approval No.1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 18
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
19 Ligon Commercial Building NC bldg. 1960s E side SR 1357 appx.200 ft N 5211 Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.
of jct w/SR 1352
DESCRIPTION:
The 1960s I-story gable-front commercial building is brick-veneered with a central entrance flanked by picture windows. This site was originally
the site of a I-story front-gabled pharmacy building with a shed-roof porch during the earl.It 1900s. The pharmacy building was moved ca. 1913
to the site on the adjacent east of the Dr.Claude M.Hughes House(9). A 3-story frame flour mill was then erected in the original location of the
pharmacy. The flour mill was destroyed by fire ca. 1931.
20 Cedar Grove United Methodist C bldg. 1939 W side SR 1357 appx.400 ft N 5118 Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.
Church of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
Completed in 1939,the Cedar Grove United Methodist Church is a 2-story cross gable stone structure with a nave plan interior which seats 200.
The paired casement windows are transomed and are headed by keystoned lintels. A tower with an embattled crown,louvered lantern,and a
double-entry doorway with an arched transom light,articulated the Gothic Revival style. The interior features wooden pews,a paneled chair rail,
and a round stained glass window above the altar. A cemetery to the adjacent north of the church dates to at least as early as the 1860s.
The congregation was organized on July 23, 1832 as the Cedar Grove Methodist Episcopal Church. The church was given land by both Joseph
Allison,one of the original settlers of Cedar Grove and its first Postmaster,and John Kelly. The first church building,erected in 1834,was a
small frame sanctuary and faced east fronting the now Cedar Grove-Efland Road(SR1357). In 1876,the small church was enlarged by an
addition to the south side(Fender and McDade 1982,p. 15).
20a United Methodist Church C site early 1860s
Cemetery
DESCRIPTION:
The markers in this cemetery are executed in the form of obelisks,tablets,stelles,and monoliths composed of granite or marble. Unmarked
fieldstones occupy the northwest comer. The earliest dated stones appear to be those marking the McDade plots of the early 1860s. The majority
of markers predate 1947. Other well-known community names inscribed on gravemarkers include Burch,Cude,Hall Hughes,Lindsay,Liner,
Malone,and Nicks. The cemetery covers approximately one acre to the north of church and is framed by woodland on the west and north sides.
The entrance to the cemetery is designated on the south side with an iron archway supported by fieldstone pillars.
NPS Form 10-900- OMB Approval No.1024-00?a
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County,North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 19
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
20b United Methodist Church C strut. ca. 1939
Cemetery Gate
DESCRIPTION:
The iron archway supported by fieldstone pillars designates the entrance to Cedar Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery which lies northeast
of the church. The church name is incorporated into the arch. The archway,located on the-,jouth side of the cemetery,appears to be
contemporary with the 1939 church building.
21 Arthur Finley House C bldg. ca. 1917 E side SR 1357 appx. 1000 ft N
of jct w/SR 1352
DESCRIPTION:
John Finley built this 2-story frame 1-house ca. 1917 as the seat of a six-acre farm. Arthur Finley,John's brother resided in the house in the 1920s
(Graybeal interview with William Finley,July 10, 1997). The house is characterized by an interior center chimney punctuating a v-crimped metal-
sheathed gable roof. The hipped porch roof is supported by chamfered posts with sawn brackets). The Finley family has owned acreage on both
sides of Efland-Cedar Grove Road,including the land on which the Eno Presbyterian Church is presently located(Orange County Deed Books,
21-3100).
21a Shed NC bldg. 1950s
DESCRIPTION:
One-story 1950s frame,open-front shed.
21b Barn C bldg. 1946
DESCRIPTION:
1946 frame front-gabled barn.
21c Tobacco barn C bldg. 19105
DESCRIPTION:
1910s log two-story front-gabled bam.
NPS Farts to-900-a
(8.86) 0M8 Approval Na.1024--0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 20
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
21d Pasture land C site E side SR 1357 beginning
appx.500 ft.N ofict w/SR
1352
DESCRIPTION:
The adjacent pasture land associated with the Arthur Finley House was historically cultivated predominately for wheat and corn-grains having
been the traditional crop grown in the community since its establishment. In the mid-to late 20th century,the land has been utilized for pasture.A
pond was built in the northeast comer in 1947 by Arthur Finley(Graybeal interview with Stephen Finley,August 14, 1997).
21e Equipment shed NC bldg. late 20th entr.E side SR 1357 appx.900
century ft.N of jct w/SR 1352; appx.
300 ft.east
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century corrugated metal shed-roofed shed.
21f Equipment shed NC bldg. late 20th entr.E side SR 1357 appx.900
century ft.N of jct w/SR 1352; appx.
600 ft.east @ end of dirt road
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century corrugated metal shed-roofed shed.
22 Oliver,T.L.House C bldg. ca. 1906 W side SR 1357 appx.800 ft N 5308 Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.
of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
Built ca. 1906 by T.L.Oliver,the weatherboarded house is a 2-story,triple-A structure covered by a v-crimp metal roof. The house features 1/1
double-hung windows,two interior chimneys and a wrap-around Doric porch. Two ells extend from the rear. Decorative features include attic
vents located in the side gables and a small window with colored glass panes. Several weatherboarded outbuildings including a garage,privy,
shed,and well are located to the rear of the main house. T.L.Oliver built this house after the family's previous house located on the site was
destroyed by fire. His blacksmith shop was located on the site on which the C.C.Oliver Auto and Tractor and Repair Shop(15)is currently
located. In 1925,T.L.Oliver became an ordained deacon in the Eno Presbyterian Church.
I
NPS Form f 0A0C•a
l8-851 OMB Approval No.}024-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number Page 21
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
22a Garage C bldg. 1920s-
1940s
DESCRIPTION:
1920s-40s one-story frame front-gable garage with side shed addition.
22b Shed C bldg. 1920s-
1940s
DESCRIPTION:
1920s-40s small front-gabled frame shed.
22c Shed C bldg. 1920s-
1940s
DESCRIPTION:
1920s-40s frame-gabled shed.
22d Well house C struc. 1920s-
1940s
DESCRIPTION:
1920s-40s small frame front-gabled frame structure.
23 McDade-Pender House C bldg. 1882 W side SR 1357 appx.900 ft N 5314 Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.
of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
This classic bungalow was built in 1882 by Charlie McDade according to community historians. The Pender family later acquired the house. The
1-1/2-story house was originally two stories. It is covered by a side-gabled roof with bracketed cornice and a bracketed dormer with 616
windows. Brick piers and battered columns characterize the engaged-roof porch.
NPS form 10-900-a OMB Approval No.7024-001s -
I8-"
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number - Page 22
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
23a Garage C bldg. 1930s
DESCRIPTION:
One-story 1930s frame front-gabled garage.
23b Garage NC bldg. late 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century frame,front-gabled garage.
23c Well house C struc. 1930s
DESCRIPTION:
1930s frame front-gabled structure.
23d Milk house C bldg. 1930s
DESCRIPTION:
1930s low-slung brick shed-roofed building.
23e Guest house NC bldg. late 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th century frame,side-gabled,one-story cottage.
NPS Fwm I O-Wo-a OMB A0PM..l No.1024-W 18
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 23
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
24 Ligon,L.A.House, NC bldg. 1960s W side SR 1357 appx. 1200 ft
N ofict w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
The 1-story brick ranch house was built in the 1960s.The home of Dr.Terrell,the community's second physician who practiced at least as early
as 1891,was once located on this site(George Tate Map of Cedar Grove, 1891).
24a Garage NC bldg. 1960s
DESCRIPTION:
1960s brick,front-gabled garage.
25 Robeson-Frazier House C bldg. 1909 W side SR 1357 appx. 1300 ft.
N of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
According to community historians,this early 20th-century 1-story triple-A house was built in 1909 for a widow,Mrs.Robeson. Mrs.Robeson
was the sister of Dr.Willis Monroe Terrell(1830-1906),a community physician whose home site was located on the adjacent south lot during the
late 1800s.The Frazier family occupied the house ca. 1920s. The structure has a v-crimp metal roof,is sheathed in weatherboard and is supported
by brick piers. The house features several decorative elements,including chamfered posts,sawnwork,and a colored glass window pane in the
front gable. The house has a centrally located interior ridgeline brick chimney and a rear gabled ell with a small shed addition. Outbuildings
include a well house.
25a Garage C bldg. 1930s-
1940s
DESCRIPTION:
1930s-1940s one-story frame,front-gabled garage.
NPS Forth 10-900-a OMB approval No.1024.-W 18
{&861 .
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 24
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
26 Eno Presbyterian Church C bldg. 1897-1899 E side SR 1357 appx. 1300 ft N 5409 Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.
of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
This brick veneered cross-gabled church with belfry was built between 1897-1899. The congregation,organized in 1755, had previously
gathered in a series of structures(the first was log)located about two miles southeast of the,Cedar Grove community on the banks of the Eno
River. After the third church building(erected in 1878)was destroyed by a forest fire in 1893,the congregation erected the present-day church
building one-half mile north of the Cedar Grove crossroads. The communion table,pulpit and Bible were salvaged from the previously-destroyed
building. On November 26, 1899,the first meeting was held in the present church building under the pastorate of H.S.Bradshaw(Ellis&Ellis
1933).
The one-story building is lit by stained glass windows(installed in 1961)within segmental arched openings on all facades of the main block. A
breezeway leads from the main block to a 1952 brick fellowship hall addition which is a front gabled structure with an exterior end chimney and
8/8 double-hung windows. Both the church building and the fellowship hall have asphalt shingle roofs.. A set of 5-paneled doors lead into the
vestibule and at the rear center of the sanctuary is a small apse. The nave-plan interior,heavily remodeled in 1925,seats 300 people(Lefler 1953,
p.295).
26a Eno Presbyterian Cemetery C site ca. 1890
DESCRIPTION:
The markers are executed in the form of tablets,stelles,and monoliths composed of granite and marble. Most of the markers predate 1947. The
earliest dated stone appears to be that marking the 1890 gravesite of T.C. Ellis. A marker for a member of the Hughes family and that of Willis
M.Terrell dates to 1906 and the Benjamin C. Patton marker dates to 1922. Other prominent community names include Lindsay,Boland,Oliver,
and Tolar. The cemetery lies to the west(rear)of the church and is framed by pastureland on the north,south and east sides.
27 Miller's House C bldg. early 1920s W side SR 1357 appx. 1400 ft 5800 Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.
N of jct w/SR 1004
DESCRIPTION:
This house was built for the village miller and originally consisted of four rooms located in the back of the house. The front block was
constructed in the early 1920s. This I-story,triple-A structure is covered in vinyl siding;the windows are 1/1 double-hung,and the front door
contains two panels and a screen door. The first miller to occupy the house was Hastings Gentry. Coy Whitaker is believed to be the third and
last miller to occupy the house. During his tenure in the 1930s,the flour mill,located on the current site of the Ligon Commercial Building(19)
was destroyed by fire. The Cudes then bought the house and added the ell. Eber Folger Cude(1904-1952)taught at the Aycock school and later
became principal.
NPS Form 10.900-a OMB approval No.1024-W IS
(9-86(
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 25
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION ADDRESS
27a Garage NC bldg. late 20th
century
DESCRIPTION:
Late 20th-century one-story frame front-gabled garage.
28 Woodland C site W side SR 1357 beginning
appx. 800 ft.N of jct w/SR
1004
DESCRIPTION:
This 8.5 acre tract of land has historically been woodland according to 1938 United State Department of Agriculture aerial view maps(located at
the NC Division of Archives and History,Raleigh,NC)and long-time residents of Cedar Grove. The configuration of the treeline contributes to
the delineation of the historic field patterns of adjacent cultivated fields. The tract of land has historically belonged to the Hughes family of Cedar
Grove(interview with Virginia Hughes Boland August 18, 1997).
29 Cedar Grove Crossroads C struct. ca. 1828 Both sides SR 1004 and SR jct.of Efland-Cedar Grove Rd
1352 intersection
DESCRIPTION:
The Cedar Grove Rural Crossroad Historic District originates at the intersection of State Routes 1004 and 1357 which are two-lane paved roads.
These roads retain the configuration depicted on an 1891 map of Orange County as well as early physical characteristics relating to their width
and grassy verges(Tate, 1891). Some of the original English cedar trees for which the community was named in the late eighteenth century are
located at the southeast corner of the intersection. The crossroads retain much of their original character and significantly contribute to the
historic integrity of the community. Cedar Grove's existence as a rural community began in 1828,when the community's first post office was
established at the southeast comer of the crossroads(Powell 1968,p.96/Councilman 1981).During the late 1800s and early 1900s,the
crossroads provided a physical framework for the further development of the community. For the most part,non-domestic structures are clustered
at the crossroads while residences emanate from the intersection to the north and east. In the mid-1940s the north-south Efland-Cedar Grove Road
(SR 1357)was paved and the east-west Carr Store Road(SR 1004)was paved in 1958.
VPS fan"10.300.. .
A-Im OMB•aav*,ft.TC 7p 7,3
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Grange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sheets - fief
Section number 7 Page 26 c- \r em v c- "s l �
NO PROPERTY NAME STATUS TYPE DATE LOCATION
30 Cedar Grove to Greensboro C struc. early 1800s south of SR 1004 beginning
Stagecoach Roadbed approximately 500 feet west of
junction with SR 1357 and
running west to John Paisely
Hughes property(1)
DESCRIPTION:
The Cedar Grove community was a veritable destination point in the rural county during the nineteenth century and portions of what appears to be
the Cedar Grove to Greensboro stagecoach road bed survive as testimony to this status.To the south of the Allen A.Ellis Store(12)on Efland-
Cedar Grove Road(SR 1357),a plaque commemorates the historic location of the Cedar Grove well(130,where according to local history,
stagecoaches customarily made water stops: The Hughes-Greene House(6),the Burch-Malone House(7),the Hayes-Hall House(8)are all
situated to the south of Carr Store Road(SR 1004)facing a portion of the roadbed of the former stagecoach route,which now serves as a
driveway to the houses. At the western-most end of the district,the John Paisley Hughes House(1)was also originally oriented to the stagecoach
route.
31 Cedar Grove Historic District C site
Landscape
DESCRIPTION:
The resources comprising the district embody the characteristics of a once prevalent rural landscape that evolved as a result of human activity and
use. The landscape characteristics coalesce the natural,the cultivated,and the built environments in a manner unique to the rural crossroads
community that supported its agrarian roots. The land has been continuously farmed throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,and
existing field patterns deviate little from those evident during the early to mid-twentieth century,as shown on Orange County Agricultural Aerial
Maps date 1938 and 1951. These continuing patterns of cultivation are testimony to the prevalence of farming during the course of the
community's development. This historical pattern of field cultivation is becoming increasingly rare as modem industrial agricultural patterns and
far-flung subdivisions are encroaching on the cultural landscape. The built resources punctuate expanses of pasture and cultivated land framed by
woodlands. Many of the residential lawns are shaded by large oaks and magnolia trees. Some of the original English cedar trees for which the
community was named i.i the late eighteenth century are located at the southeast comer of the crossroads.The undulating farm land is laid out in
fields and pastures delineated by treelines,fences,and the two narrow main roads with their grassy verges-all remaining relatively unchanged
during the last five decades(Exhibits 2 and 3: Orange County Agricultural Aerial Maps 1938 and 1951). The Cedar Grove community is located
between the east and west forks of the Eno River and the proliferation of gristmills was a trend that was apparent within the community and its
vicinity as an outgrowth of the agrarian culture(Collet's map as stated in Mattson, 1996).Thus.the natural and agrarian countryside overlaid with
the built environment constitutes a significant cultural landscape which embodies the essential character of the once-typical rural crossroads
community.
NPS Farm 10.900-a
(8-86) OMB Approval No.1024-COIN
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8 Page 27
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Summary
The Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads Historic District, located in northwest Orange County, is eligible for
National Register listing under Criteria A and C. Significant in the area of Community Development under
Criterion A, the district exhibits the historic pattern of development in Orange County's agricultural
communities which were manifested in the emergence of commercial and social centers along intersections
of primary roads. The resources comprising the district embody the characteristics of a once prevalent rural
landscape that evolved as a result of human activity and use. The landscape characteristics coalesce the
natural, the cultivated, and the built environments in a manner unique to the rural crossroads community that
supported its agrarian roots. Of the half-dozen or so rural crossroads communities that evolved during the
nineteenth century in Orange County, Cedar Grove is among the most intact and least altered examples of
this disappearing genre. Many rural community businesses have suffered economic demise as a result of the
proliferation of the automobile and improved roads which have facilitated travel to larger retail businesses in
urban areas. However, Cedar Grove survives as a crossroads community which retains a distinct identity
reflected in its physicality as well as its historic culture.
Cedar Grove's existence as a rural community dates to around 1828, when the community's first post office
was established. Throughout the nineteenth century the community served as a commercial, social, and
educational center for agricultural families in the vicinity and was a major stop on the stagecoach route to
Greensboro. By 1850 Cedar Grove was a thriving community, and not only supported the prestigious Cedar
Grove Academy,but a variety of businesses including an innkeeper,a coachmaker, a doctor, a post office, a
blacksmith, a tanner, and a drygoods and hardware store. Later in the nineteenth century the community
additionally boasted a public school, a sawmill, a grist mill, and a plug tobacco factory employing fourteen
men. The community was nearly self-sufficient and thus its ongoing vitality was perpetuated well into the
twentieth century. During the 1910s, several large farm houses were erected and two churches whose
congregations were established in 1756 and 1832 continued to serve the community. A physician's office, a
drugstore, a blacksmith, a flour mill and a post office were also operating during this period, and in the 1920s
another drygoods store was erected. Many of these businesses established in the late 1800s and early 1900s
operated well into the 1930s and 1940s.
Today,the community of Cedar Grove continues to support various local businesses including the Allison-
Oliver-Pender Store(16) locally known as the Pender Store which now offers gasoline for sale. A post office
flanks the store on the north and an automobile and tractor repair business begun in 1946 flanks the south.
Houses are only slightly more dense than in the early 1900s, with a few twentieth-century dwellings added
mostly in the 1920s and in the 1960s and 1970s. Largely because of its continuously operating post office
and general store, the community of Cedar Grove continues to be a veritable local destination point today.
The district meets Criterion A in the area of Agriculture. The land has been continuously farmed throughout
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and existing field patterns deviate little from those evident during the
early to mid-twentieth century, as shown on Orange County Agricultural Aerial Maps(Exhibits 2 and 3),
NPS Form 10-900-a
(848) OMB Approval No.10Z,,0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sleet
Section number 8 Page 28
these continuing patterns of cultivation are testimony to the prevalence of farming during the course of the
community's development. This historical pattern of field cultivation is becoming increasingly rare as
modern industrial agricultural patterns and far-flung subdivisions are encroaching on the cultural landscape.
The district is additionally significant under Criterion A in the area of Social History. The physical
development characteristics of the Cedar Grove community, along with the resulting inherent form of social
interaction,represent a rarity in rapidly-developing Orange County given that the advent of the automobile,
the county-wide road improvement trends, and the resultant population boom has hastened the demise of
many crossroads communities. Furthermore the community is significant in the area of Ethnic Heritage for
its role as a mecca for Black string band musicians and the square dances they accompanied between the
years of ca. 1930 and 1947. The Black string band, a genre based on traditional indigenous white
instrumental traditions,usually accompanied community harvest dances and represented a contrast to the
contemporary jazz and blues genre developing in urban areas. Thus, local musical tradition also reflected the
nearly equal Black-white population ratio of Cedar Grove township and the stable race relations there.
Significant under Criterion C in the area of,Irchitecture, the community's enduring vitality is exhibited in a
notable and varied collection of late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century residential and commercial
buildings which provide the visual framework for the hamlet. A sense of continuity is lent in that many
descendants of Cedar Grove's early founders reside in the community and maintain substantial family
homeplaces. Although a few noncontributing resources exist, they are unobtrusive in scale and character,
and are secondary to the overall historic character of this rare, largely intact crossroads community.
The overall period of significance for the community lies between the early nineteenth century and 1947.
The earliest physical vestiges of building activity in the community, other than the crossroads itself, are
represented by the later portion of the John Paisley Hughes House (1), the Hughes-Greene House(6), the
Burch-Malone House(7),the Benjamin C. Patton Store(11), the Allen A. Ellis House(12), the Allison-
Oliver-Pender Store(16),and the McDade-Pender House (23). The community continued to develop as it
entered into the twentieth century as exemplified by the 1920s Eno Presbyterian Manse(3)and the Rogers-
McDade House(10) which exhibit Craftsman features, and by the 1923 the Allen A. Ellis Store (12) at the
crossroads. The 1939 Cedar Grove United Methodist Church(20) is among the latest resources erected
during the period of significance. The manmade pond on the Arthur Finley Farm(21d)was introduced into
the landscape during the last year of the period of significance- 1947. The other activities which have
justified additional areas of significance for the community, including those agricultural and social,were
occurring as late as 1947, the year which marks the National Register age criteria for events to have occurred
at least fifty years ago in order to have achieved historic significance.
i
NPS Forth 10-900-a OMB Approval No.1024-0018
(8-85)
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8 Page 29
Criterion A: Community Development: The Realization Nineteenth-Century Rural Crossroads
Communities in Orange County
As the characteristic ante-bellum self-sufficiency of the Orange County farmstead declined with the
increased trend of cultivating cash crops, a need for manufactured goods and specialized services arose.
Thus, after the Civil War, small industries and businesses began to develop within each of the county's
townships. Small pockets of commerce often developed in the areas surrounding crossroads post offices,
such as in the Cedar Grove community. These development patterns brought about the establishment of the
an important rural institution,the local general store. Products and services that were once provided by the
self-sustaining farm could now be purchased at the local community store(Carter and Peck 1983).
The community of Cedar Grove, an example of this development pattern, served as a commercial, social, and
educational center for surrounding agrarian families throughout the nineteenth and into the early twentieth
centuries. It was one of about a half-dozen such rural crossroads communities that evolved in Orange
County during this period. In addition to Cedar Grove, the communities of Caldwell, Oaks and White Cross
emerged at this time. Most of the extant crossroads communities established in the nineteenth century in
rural Orange County exhibit a repletion of insidious modern intrusions which have diluted the original fabric,
resulting in a loss of community identity and definition. They have suffered a loss of commercial as well as
social viability and no longer function as true communities. The community of Cedar Grove, along with that
of Caldwell in the Little River Township in the northeastern section of the county, are the most intact
examples of the rare-surviving rural crossroads community in the county. The way of life in these rural
communities was centered around social interaction as well as economic trade. For example, farmers during
the ante-bellum period typically purchased major goods in Hillsborough,the economic center and county
seat of Orange County;however,they continued to patronize the local general store not only to conveniently
purchase staple goods but also to socialize with neighbors. Impromptu social interaction often took place in
the general stores,but school buildings and churches,typically the more prominent buildings in the
community were the sites of planned social gatherings(Johnson 1937,pp. 98-99).
Steadily improving roads facilitating transportation to urban areas ultimately affected Post-World War H
patterns of development in Orange County. Between the Great Depression and 1950, the rural population
fell from 87 percent to 73 percent of the total populace,while the county-wide population increased from
21,000 to 34,000 (as stated in Mattson 1996,pp.45-46). The effects of urbanization and improved
transportation were perhaps most evident in the crossroads communities. The local general stores of these
communities suffered a demise as a result of urban enterprises that were accessible to a broader market area.
The general store gave way to the gas station with a porte-cochere drive-through as seen at Laws crossroads
in northeast Orange County and in the McDade Store No. 2 in the northwest county. The community of
Cedar Grove,however, has been spared intrusions by modern gas stations and retains its late eighteenth-and
early nineteenth-century store buildings. The stores continued to serve the local residents well into the
twentieth century,but no longer held influence over farmers as institutions of trade and credit. The 1880s
NPS Form 1 o-goo-a
(8.86) OMS Approval No.1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8 Page 30
Allison-Oliver-Pender Store(16)continues to serve the community to the present day with the provision of
drygoods. The buildings housing the 1880s Benjamin C.Patton Store (11) and the 1923 Allen A. Ellis Store
(12)are extant,though the businesses ceased to operate in 1923 and 1943 respectively.
Criterion A: Agricultural Trends in Orange County-Post-Bellum to Post-World War H
Post-Bellum to the Late Nineteenth Centu..ry _
The Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads Community is deeply rooted in the Orange County agrarian tradition that
shaped it. Orange County was among those areas that did not experience the physical devastation effected by
the Civil War; however, the county did experience the social and economic transformation that proliferated
throughout the South as a result of the abolition of slavery, lingering wartime poverty, and the depletion of
capital. These circumstances slowed agricultural production and necessitated a reorganization of the ante-
bellum social and economic systems(Mattson 1996,p. 35). During the ten years immediately following the
Civil War in Orange County,farm value decreased by half and the average size fell from 285 acres to 198
acres (U.S. Census, 1860 and 1870).
Ante-bellum Orange County maintained 6,000 slaves-one-third of the total population. Farmers contended
with the adjustments necessary to deal with the labor shortage as many Black families migrated to urban
areas in pursuit of job opportunities. As a result, a variety of methods were utilized to tenure the land in
Orange County after the Civil War. Landowners either employed and supervised farm laborers or divided
holdings into smaller plots. As major landholdings were parceled out, the overall number of farms increased
and the rise in production of cash crops as a means of livelihood in a cash-poor economy resulted in the
erosion of the traditional self-sufficient family farm(Mattson 1996,p. 36-37). Tenant farming and share
cropping became prevalent,and by 1890 well over half the county's farmers were either renters,
sharecroppers,or laborers. More than a third of white farmers did not own land and over twenty percent
were sharecroppers. Most Black farmers remained as field hands, a third were sharecroppers, and only a
tenth became landowners. The average size of their farms was less than half that of farms operated by white
farmers. By the late 1800s almost forty percent of all farmers in Orange County were sharecroppers and
worked on average twenty to sixty acres of land. In the Cedar Grove Township,the typical amount of
improved or tilled land per farm was twenty to forty acres,while unimproved land or woodlands constituted
anywhere from twenty to 150 acres(U.S. Census 1890-1900 as stated in Mattson 1996,p. 38).
With the decline of the self-sufficient farm and the growth in tenancy came the increased importance of the
country crossroads store where a variety of goods could be conveniently purchased that were previously
produced on the family farm. Another outgrowth of farm tenancy was new crop lien laws which benefited
the owners of these general stores. Lien laws permitted merchants to accept implanted crops as collateral in
the purchase of seeds, fertilizer, and other supplies. In a post-war cash-poor economy, merchants took on a
powerful role in the rural Piedmont as general stores became the principal sources for loans and credit.
Merchants, as creditors,required repayment of loans with crops such as tobacco and cotton, which could be
NPS Form 10-900-a
le-mil OMB Approval No.1024-078
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County,North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8 Page 31
sold for cash. Thus, farmers became caught in a cycle of dependency,compelled to raise more and more
cash crops to pay for staple items that had traditionally been produced on their own farms. Although tenancy
enabled the sharecropper to buy land, the agricultural credit extended them caused many to fall into chronic
debt. In addition to crop liens, farmers faced mounting taxes that were imposed during the late nineteenth
century to pay for the building of railways and county roads(Ayers, as stated in Mattson 1996,p. 38).
Land tenancy, crop liens,higher taxes, and fence laws all colluded to lure the small farmer toward cash-crop
agriculture and away from traditional self-sufficiency. The shift to the growing of cash crops was also
encouraged, given that their transport to market was facilitated by tie introduction of the North Carolina
Railroad which ran from Goldsboro to Charlotte via Hillsborough. Although semi-subsistence farming
practices continued into the early twentieth century, farmers pursued the cultivation of bright-leaf tobacco as
a cash crop. Corn, oats and wheat were important crops in the county throughout the nineteenth century;
however, in the latter half of the century, cotton became a significant cash crop in the southern county while
most tobacco was produced in the northern county in which Cedar Grove is located(U.S. Census 1850-
1880). However, as more farmers entered the cash crop market, the competition caused the price of these
crops to drastically drop. This fall in cash return was compounded by the 1890s national depression.
Additionally, the relentless planting of these cash without rotation resulted in soil depletion and thus reduced
per-acre crop production(Powell 1968,p. 417). A loss of independence and mounting indebtedness
characterized the plight of the county's farmers. Burdened by uncertainty and debt, farm laborers
increasingly began to migrate to factories and cities.
Early Twentieth Century to Post-World War I
With the arrival of the twentieth century, crop prices began to rise steadily and continued to escalate
throughout World War I. While the traditional rural communities remained intact, the fruits of commercial
farming were becoming clearly evident in the improvements made in the built environment Cotton gins
emerged along Cane Creek south of the railroad and Hillsborough(Branson 1889; Lefler and Wager 1953,
pp. 301-302). Gristmills and saw mills increased in number as well as product output, and a string of mills
developed along the east and west forks of the Eno River(Collet's map as stated in Mattson, 1996). This
trend was apparent within the vicinity of the Cedar Grove community,which was located between these two
forks. Compton's Grist Mill was located on the east fork of the Eno River a few miles east of the Cedar
Grove crossroads(Tate, 1891). A later grist mill also existed from 1913 to 1932 within a few yards of the
northeast corner of the crossroads on the site of the current Ligon Commercial Building(19). The dwelling
associated with this mill is referred to as the Miller's House(27) located at the north end of the Cedar Grove
Rural Crossroads Historic District on Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR 1357).
Blacks were also influenced by this atmosphere of prosperity. Although the majority Black farmers
remained as laborers or sharecroppers,one-fourth were able to purchase farms by 1910. Countywide, rural
Black communities expanded around new churches at the fringes of white hamlets. Examples of these
communities include that near Carr which erected White Oak Grove Baptist Church above the crossroads in
NPS form 10-900-a
(6.88.8 6) OMB Approval No.1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sleet
Section number 8 Page 32
1914, and on the outskirts of Cedar Grove, where Lee's Chapel Baptist Church was erected in 1918 (Lefler
and Wager 1953,pp. 305-306).
After World War I significant improvements in transportation were both the product and cause of
transitioning agricultural conditions. Improved roads and bridges, coupled with the introduction of the
automobile,yielded unprecedented mobility. However, farmers continued to encounter impassable roads for
months out of each year when traveling farm-to-market routes well into the 1950s. Efland-Cedar Grove
Road(SR 1357) and Carr Store Road(SR 1004) in the Cedar Grove community were not paved until the
1940s and 1950s respectively. These circumstances perpetuated the ongoing importance of the local
community store(Lefler and Wager 1953,pp.230-250).
The 1920s to Post-World War II
The post-World War I period of prosperity was fleeting and the 1920s crop returns plummeted. They
continued to fall during the Depression as tobacco and cotton prices dropped by more than half between the
late 1920s and the early 1930s. The devastating effects of the Depression, along with the plague of the boll
weevil during the 1920s and 1930s, created a decrease, particularly in cotton production. Only forty-three
pounds of cotton were produced in the Cedar Grove Township in 1930 (U.S. Census 1930). However, the
township had the second-highest acreage of farmland in the county after Bingham Township at the time. The
most prevalent crop was corn, followed by tobacco(U.S. Census 1930). By the 1940s, however, more
options became open to farmers and many turned to dairy farming and livestock production in the southern
section of the county, while still others continued the migration that had begun in the late 1800s to nearby
urban areas such as Durham and Burlington to labor in cotton mills. Also, tobacco prices began to rise and
stabilize and tobacco remained the preferred cash crop in northern Orange County where the Cedar Grove
Township is located(Bell as stated in Mattson 1996,p.43). Although the prevalence of tobacco farms
necessitated small land tracts, dairying and livestock production,which had become commonplace in the
southeast county required larger tracts. In the late 1940s and early 1950s,there were about eighteen farms in
Orange County that averaged 765 acres in size,even though the median farm size had declined by this time
to an average of only sixty-three acres. Though modest farms still dotted the landscape, small land tenancy
declined as advances in agricultural technology took hold in the mid-twentieth century(Lefler and Wager
1953,pp. 230-250). Thus, as an outgrowth of the new trends in agriculture during the 1940s,new patterns of
land use began to emerge in Orange County; however,aerial maps of the county indicate that between 1938
and the present-day, agricultural field patterns have changed very little in the Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
Historic District(Exhibits 2 and 3 /Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes, July 10, 1997).
Criterion C: Late Nineteenth-to Mid-Twentieth-Century Architecture in Rural Orange County
Tate Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century
The architectural heritage of rural Orange County is characterized by vernacular interpretations rather than
high-style examples. Stylistic influences are more apparent in Orange County's post-bellum, late nineteenth-
NPS 10.900-a
(8-86)) OMB APPM 81 No.1024.-0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service
Historic District
-
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8 Page 33
and early twentieth-century houses than in pre-Civil War examples. The availability of manufactured
architectural components including brackets, doors, sheathing, gable detailing,balustrades, and mantels
resulted in a proliferation of architectural embellishment just prior to the nineteenth century in Orange
County, as throughout North Carolina(Bisher 1990, pp. 293-295). Most common are frame center-hall plan
houses. Many of these are 1-houses, which generally date from 1870 to 1910, and are typically characterized
by a two-story height and a single-room depth with either a hall-and-parlor or center-hall plan. Examples of
the I-house found in the Cedar Grove crossroads community include the John Paisley Hughes House (1) with
its two-story ell, and the John Finely House(2 1)with its center-hall plan. The I-house variation known as
the triple-A is prevalent in Orange County. This house form is characterized by a side-gable roof with a third
gable centered on the front facade. The Burch-Malone House (7), the Hayes-Hall House(8) and the T.L
Oliver House (22) are examples of the triple-A house in the Cedar Grove crossroads community.
Many rural dwellings in Orange County are late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century farmsteads which
retain much of their historic acreage. These farmsteads constitute one of the most character-defining
property-types in the county and manifest the pockets of intact rural quality found throughout the county.
While many of the main houses of these farm complexes are not distinctive, the collection of the farm
buildings as a whole, including their spatial relationship to each other, is of greater significance. An example
of such a farmstead in the Cedar Grove Crossroads Community is the John Finley Farm(21).
The innovative framing methods, mass production of building materials, and emergence of the rail road
during the late nineteenth century fostered the introduction of new domestic forms of architecture. An
unprecedented array of affordable architectural embellishments, moldings, and mantelpieces were produced
at steam-powered factories and transported by rail. The increased use of the light balloon frame
corresponded with the with the rise of the nationwide picturesque movement which facilitated more freedom
of expression than had the censures of neoclassicism. The movement included the Gothic Revival and
Italianate styles culminating in the flamboyant Queen Anne. However,conservatism in rural Orange County
maintained traditional building practices and house-forms well into the twentieth century, even as
architectural embellishments began to appear more frequently on domestic facades. With the increased
availability of milled lumber, domestic plans and facades became more conforming. The center-hall I-house
plan supplemented with a front porch and rear kitchen ell was preferred among Orange County farmers from
the late 1860s to about 1910. Tenant dwellings were usually one-story renditions of the I-house. Decoration
and scale varied according to taste and means (Mattson 1996,pp.46-8).
The 1910s to Post-World War II
In spite of the availability of building materials made possible by the advent of the railroad in the twentieth
century in Orange County, the conservative agrarian culture held the introduction of new house-types in
check. Among the few that did gain popular use were the Colonial Revival American four-square(two-story
double-pile with four rooms on each floor) and the Craftsman-influenced bungalow(usually one-and-one-
half-story with an irregular floor plan)(Mattson 1996,p. 52 and McAlester 1984,pp.452-463).
NPS Form f a-wo-a OM8 a
PProval No.1024.-pp l8
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number a Page 34
Colonial Revival was the preferred style among Orange County land owners by the 1910s, as its classical and
more sophisticated design appealed to the prosperous middle-class farmer(Mattson 1996,p. 52). Builders
integrated Colonial Revival motifs and detailing into traditional house types as well as applied it to the two-
story four-square form. A fine example of Colonial Revival architecture in the Cedar Grove Rural
Crossroads Historic District is the Dr. Claude M. Hughes House(9). Built in 1912,this handsome frame
house is executed in a two-story, four-square form which is covered by a high hip roof with smaller cross
gables. A projecting cutaway bay,wrap-around verandah, and decorative sawnwork in the gables allude to
the transition from the Queen Anne style. The cubic symmetry,Doric porch columns, and pedimented entry
bay exemplify the domestic Colonial Revival style.
The John Tolar House (4) is also exemplary of Colonial Revival farmhouses built in the 1910s. The two and
a-half-story frame house has a hipped roof form with a central dormer, symmetrically placed single and
paired windows, and a center-hall plan. The style is also exemplified in the boxed cornices of the dormers
and porch gable, the Palladianesque dormer window, and the classic columns supporting a wrap-around
porch roof.
A"Revival"style that was nationally popular in ecclesiastical architecture was that of the Gothic Revival,
which was reflected often in the church buildings of rural Orange County. An outstanding example of this
style is seen in the Cedar Grove United Methodist Church(20). Constructed in 1939, it is the largest and
most exemplary of the rural county churches built before World War II. The well-executed Gothic Revival
design includes an L-shaped configuration with a crenellated tower that defines the entrance at the apex of
the two wings. The church features a veneer of native fieldstone and wood-frame casement windows
crowned by stone jack arches.
While the Revival styles were inspired by precedents, fresh architectural trends emerged during the World
War I era that emphasized a pleasing simplicity achieved primarily by employing practical forms and fine
craftsmanship. A nationally popular expression of this trend towards uncomplicated and functional
architecture was the Craftsman style, featured in pattern books for bungalows that catered to the middle and
working classes. There are innumerable vernacular interpretations,but the essential features of the style
typically include a height of one-and-a-half-stories, a low-pitched gabled roof with a wide unenclosed eave
overhang, roof dormers, exposed rafter ends and decorative eave brackets, a wide porch with battered posts
supported by brick piers,and vertically divided windows (McAlester 1984,p.453). These stylistic features
often manifested in additions or"updates"to existing houses, especially when related to the modifications
and expansions necessitated by a conversion to dairy farming. Therefore, the style appears to be more
prevalent in the southern townships where dairy farming was more prevalent'(Mattson 1996,p. 54). Only
two examples of the Craftsman influence are apparent in the Cedar Grove Historic District. The McDade-
Pender House(23)exhibits bracketed eaves at the gabled ends and central dormer. The engaged full-facade
porch roof is supported by battered posts on brick piers, features typically referred to as "bungaooid." The
Eno Presbyterian Manse(3)exhibits a front-gabled form with bracketed eaves and wrap-around porch, the
roof of which like the McDade-Pender House, is supported by battered posts on brick piers.
NPS Form 10_WC-a
(8.86) - OMB Approve/hb.1024.0018
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service
Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8 Page 35
The crossroads general store was the icon of commercial architecture in rural Orange well into the twentieth
century. This community architectural focal point served as a center for selling and trading merchandise as
well as for social interaction. However,with the advent of the automobile which provided easier access to
urban centers, their prominence faded and many were abandoned. Nonetheless, a few remained in operation
filling a modest commercial need as local groceries and gas stations. The Allison-Oliver-Pender Store (16)
at Cedar Grove is one of the best examples of these survivors. This two-story weatherboard building dates to
the 1880s and befitting its early prominence has an impressive facade which lends a notable presence
distinguishing the crossroads. The front-facing gable is delineated with heavily molded cornice returns and
sheathed in flush boards. A hip-roofed porch with original chamfered posts covers the central entrance
which is flanked by multi-light sash windows. The interior is also remarkably intact with wooden shelving
and glass display cases lining the walls.
The Alan A. Ellis Store(12)on the southwest corner of the Cedar Grove crossroads is another fine example
of the community general store with its flat roof,bracketed cornice and large triple-grouped display windows
flanking a central triple-grouped entrance.
The McDade Store No. 2 located a few miles north of the Cedar Grove crossroads typifies the 1920s rural
gas station with its square form, gable-front pump canopy, and large display window.
Historical Background and Criterion A: Social History and Ethnic Heritage
Historical Background
Cedar Grove's existence as a rural community can be traced to around 1828, when the community's first post
office was established with Joseph Allison as its Postmaster(Powell 1968,p. 96 and Councilman 1981).
Throughout the nineteenth century it served as a commercial, social, and educational center for agricultural
families in the vicinity. By 1850 Cedar Grove was a thriving community, and not only supported a private
academy; but also a tanner, a coachmaker, a doctor, a post office, a blacksmith and three businesses
including a drygoods store, a hardware store,and a grocer(Manufacturing Census 1850). Later in the
nineteenth century, the community additionally boasted a sawmill, a grist mill,a plug tobacco factory, two
churches and several large farmhouses(Carter and Peck 1993,p. 122&Branson 1889, p.499 and
Manufacturing Census 1850).
During the nineteenth century,Cedar Grove was a major stop on the stagecoach route to Greensboro, and
weary travelers stopped there to refresh at the public well(Mattson 1996,p. 18). Portions of the east-west-
running stagecoach road are evident to the south Carr Store Road(SR1004)a few yards west of the
crossroads. The now demolished ca. 1845 Cedar Grove Academy, formerly located on the site of the current
Rogers-McDade House(10), faced north onto the road. The Burch-Malone House(7) and Hayes-Hall House
(8)currently face north onto the road bed,while the Hughes-Greene House(6)and the John Paisley Hughes
NPS Form 10.900-a OMB Apomva/No.1o20-oo r8
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8 Page 36
House (1) face to its south. The 1891 survey map of Orange County by George Tate depicts High Rock
Road merging with Yanceyville Road [now Corbett Ridge Road (SR 1004)] in the northwest county and
running east-west through the village of Cedar Grove(See Exhibit 1). According to deeds dating from the
first half of the twentieth century,the north-south-running Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR 1357)was referred
to as the Hillsboro-Milton Road for the towns to the south and north of Cedar Grove respectively(Orange
County Deedbooks 124/35 and 59/345). The east-west-running Carr-Store Road(SR 1004) was referred to
as High Rock Road.
Many of the currently standing homes and buildings were erected in the late 1800s, including the Hughes-
Greene House(6), the Burch-Malone House(7),Benjamin C. Patton Store (11), the Allen A. Ellis House
(12), the McDade-Pender House(23), and the later wing of the John Paisley Hughes House (1). The Eno
Presbyterian Church(26) as well as the Allison-Oliver-Pender Store(16) and the John Tolar House(4)had
been completed before the turn-of-the-century. The Cedar Grove Public School was also erected in the late
1800s on the current site of the Annie L. Hughes House(5). This building was moved to another part of the
county in 1915 (Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes July 14, 1997).
During the 1930s, the only post office in Orange County north of Hillsborough was in the community of
Cedar Grove which was considered an important trade center for the northem county(Vukan 1948,p. 61).
Two extant general stores, then known as Ellis' (12) and Oliver's (16), served the community in addition a
physician's office, a drugstore, a blacksmith and two still vital churches: Eno Presbyterian(26) and Cedar
Grove Methodist(20)established in the mid 1700s and mid 1800s respectively. The community was fairly
self-sufficient and thus its ongoing vitality was perpetuated. The community's population,though it included
Blacks as well as whites,was quite homogeneous in its occupation-that of a tobacco farmer. Only one out of
every four residents worked in non-farm jobs(Vukan 1948,p. 85).
In the 1940s, few residents owned automobiles and only Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR 1357)was paved. A
blacksmith shop remained on the northwest corner of the crossroads. The community of Cedar Grove
conformed to the prototypical concept of a"folk society"-a small, isolated,relatively self-contained and
homogeneous population as defined in a 1947 American Journal of Sociology publication (Redfield as cited
in Lornell 1976,p. 56). Such a society is, according to a 1953 American Anthropologist article, "relatively
immobile,"and slow to change(Foster as cited in Lomell 1976,p. 57). Due to the relatively isolated nature
of the community and restricted travel during the 1930s and 1940s, the tradition of square dances
accompanied by Black string bands thrived as a recreational activity that occurred according to agrarian-
based time frames until the 1950s. At this time,residents began leaving the farms for industrial work in
nearby towns. However, tobacco and livestock crop farming remains a vital occupation in the community
today. Thus, the community of Cedar Grove has for the most part escaped the proliferation of modern
intrusions and today retains the principal historic buildings and landscape characteristics which lend to its
historic integrity. Indeed, the community's stores continued to serve local residents well into the twentieth
century. The 1880s Allison-Oliver-Pender Store(16)serves the community today while the Benjamin C.
Patton Store(11)operated until ca. 1943. The two church congregations, Eno Presbyterian(26) and Cedar
(8- Form 10-900-a
(e-es) ro OMB Appval N0.1024-W 19
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number s Page 37
Grove United Methodist(20), established in 1756 and 1832 respectively, are still vital elements of the
community. Although Carr Store Road(SR1004)was paved in 1958, the crossroads retain much of their
early physical appearance with their narrow width, grassy verges and original configuration.
Criterion A• Social History and Ethnic Heritage-Black String Band Music from ca 1930 to 1947
As blues and jazz artists were enjoying commercial popularity in the South, during the 1930s and 1940s the
community of Cedar Grove became a mecca for a different genre of music, that of the Black string band.
Additionally, Cedar Grove was the center for Black square dancing in northern Orange County(Lornell
1976,p. 28).
According to the 1940 Census, Orange County consisted of 21,171 residents, only a third of the population of
the nearby city of Durham. The county's ratio of whites to Blacks was about two-to-one- 14,269 whites to
6,904 Blacks. The ratio in the Cedar Grove Township was an exception to the rest of Orange County: the
breakdown was 1,753 Blacks and 1,671 whites or essentially a racial equilibrium. More Blacks resided in
the Cedar Grove Township than in any other in the county, with the exception of the densely populated
Chapel Hill vicinity in which the Black population totaled 2,629 (U.S. Census 1941, p. 53).
The relatively large 1940s Black population in the Cedar Grove Township was heavily involved in
agriculture. Overall in Orange County there were 503 Black-owned farms and nearly half were located in the
Cedar Grove Township. There were also 267 white-operated farms in the township which was only about
twenty percent of all white-operated farms in Orange County but nonetheless a significant number. Nearly
three-fourths of the Cedar Grove Township population was described by the 1940 Census as "rural farm
population." The percentage of Black tenant farmers was higher there than in any other township in Orange
County which listed a county-wide average of twenty-seven percent. The percentage of white tenant farmers
in the township was also high- fifty-seven percent,compared to an overall county average of thirty-nine
percent(U.S. Census 1941,p. 53).
Race relations,however, were relaxed in Cedar Grove and the blatant racism which generally characterized
the South was not evident given that the institutions that were traditionally segregated in the South—
restaurants, public bathrooms,bus depots, and theaters did not exist in the community. Blacks were legally
prevented from attending white schools and social conventions kept the churches and dances segregated;
however, on occasion white and Black musicians gathered at dances. Blacks and whites also collaborated on
farming efforts and white merchants were willing to extend credit to Blacks(Lornell 1976,p.47).
This was the social and economic context in which Black musicians were performing secular music in the
Cedar Grove community from the late 1930s until the late 1940s. Fiddles.and banjos were the principal
instruments of these musicians. Many musicians from nearby communities traveled to Cedar Grove to
accompany dances known as set dances, square dances, or most commonly,barn dances. Interviews with
senior residents of the community reveal that these dances were occurring as early as the 1880s and as late as
NPS Form 10-900-a
(9-86) OMB Approval No.1024-00 IS
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8 Page 38
the 1940s (Lornell interview with Joe Thompson,May 15, 1976 and Graybeal interview with Lois Hughes,
July 10, 1997).
The occurrence of these square dances was related to the agrarian cycle in Cedar Grove. The dances were
held in celebration of the completion of harvesting in the fall and the recreational season was ushered in by a
"corn shucking"dance between mid- October and November. Some dances attracted as many as seventy-
five to 100 people, many of whom traveled from distant parts of the county and neighboring counties
(Lornell interview with Buck Turo, May 8, 1976). The dances were held for two or three months in
succession, until the arrival of spring necessitated that farm work fnume. "Chopping time,"when wood was
cut and fed to tobacco-curing fires,represented winter's end(Lornell interview with Joe Thompson,May 15,
1976).
In the Cedar Grove community, the Black population was interrelated and relatively stable. This stability,
and the fact that tunes were passed down from older musicians, rendered the musical repertoire fairly limited
and almost universally known within this community network. The repertoire of Cedar Grove's Black string
band musicians stems from two primary sources: that of medicine and minstrel shows, and the indigenous
white instrumental tradition. The medicine and minstrel shows provided entertainment in the form of music,
comedy skits, short plays and story telling. Medicine shows were commonplace by 1900 and perhaps
evolved from the minstrel shows which were most popular in the South between 1850 and 1870, and
continued to be enjoyed until the late 1920s(Vukan 1948,p. 85; Redfield as cited in Lornell 1976,p. 36).
Perhaps a more important source for many of the tunes performed by Cedar Grove Black musicians was the
indigenous white instrumental tradition. This instrumental tradition originated the British Isles and remains
vital in the Southern Appalachian mountains. This music was and is currently performed utilizing the
stringed instruments of the fiddle, the banjo, and more recently the guitar(Davidson and Newman, as cited in
Lornell 1976, p. 39).
Largely due to the relatively isolated nature of the community,the square dances were enabled to continue in
Cedar Grove through the 1940s. Limited diversity of recreational activities and restricted travel during the
1930s compelled residents to support the dances as a celebratory and social activity. The dances provided
entertainment as well as an opportunity for congregating with neighbors. The square dance tradition thrived
until the 1950s when radios and television became relatively commonplace in the community. Additionally,
residents began leaving the farms for manufacturing jobs in the nearby towns of Mebane and Hillsborough.
By the early 1950s the square dances had ceased(Lornell 1976,p. 61).
NPS Parts 10.900-a OMB Approval No.1024-0018
�e-acl
United States Department of the Interior J Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County, North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 9 Page 39
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bishir, Catherine W. 1990.North Carolina Architecture. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press.
Blackwelder, Ruth. 1961. The Age of Orange: Political and Intellectual Leadership in North Carolina. 1752-
1861. Charlotte: William Loftin.
Boland, Virginia. Interview by Sharon Sexton,28 January 1995, Eno Presbyterian Church,Cedar Grove,
North Carolina. Transcript. Orange County Planning Department, Hillsborough,North Carolina.
Branson, Levi, ed. 1889. Branson's North Carolina Business Directory. Raleigh: Branson House.
Carter,Jody and Todd Peck. 1993. Historic Resources of Orange County. Unpublished manuscript. Orange
County Planning and Development Department,Hillsborough,NC.
Councilman,David H. 1981. Postmaster of Cedar Grove.North Carolina.
Ellis,Mrs. A.A. and T.C. 1933. History of Eno PresbZerian Church. Cedar Grove North Carolina.Updated
by Annie L. Hughes in 1955 and Mrs.R.W. Isley in 1980.
Griffin, Francis and Estelle Haley. Interview by Shannon Sexton, 25 February 1995, Cedar Grove North
Carolina. Transcript. Orange County Planning Department,Hillsborough,North Carolina.
Hughes, Lois. Interview by Shannon Sexton,20 February 1995,C.M. Hughes House, Cedar Grove,North
Carolina. Transcript. Orange County Planning Department, Hillsborough,North Carolina.
Johnson, Guion Griffis. 1937. Antebellum North Carolina: A Social History. Chapel Hill: The University of
North Carolina Press.
Lefler,Hugh and Paul Wager. 1953. Orange County 1752-1952. Chapel Hill: The Orange Printshop.
Lornell, Christopher. 1976.,4 Study of the Sociological Reasons Why Blacks Sing Blues:An Examinations of
the Secular Black Music Found in Two North Carolina Communities.Unpublished master's thesis.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mattson, Rick L. 1996. History and Architecture of Orange County,N.C. Unpublished manuscript located at
Orange County Planning and Development Department,Hillsborough,NC.
McAlester, Virginia and Lee. 1984. A Field Guide to American Architecture.New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
NPS forth 10.900-a
OMB APPM-Ol o.1026-W?8
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 9 Page 40
McDade, Katherine. Interview by Shannon Sexton, 28 January 1995,Katherine McDade House, Cedar
Grove,North Carolina. Transcript. Orange County Planning Department, Hillsborough,North
Carolina.
Orange County Record of Deeds. Hillsborough,NC.
Pender, Irene O. and Katherine N.McDade. 1982. Cedar Grove United Methodist Church: Celebrating 150
Years of Christian Service 1832-1982. Hillsborough: Shanklin's Press.
Pender, Irene Oliver. 1983. A History of Orange County Schools: 1732-1983. Hillsborough: Shanklin's
Press.
Powell,William S. 1968.The North Carolina Gazatteer. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
National'Trust for Historic Preservation. 1976. A Snide for Delineating Edges of Historic Districts.
Washington DC: National Trust for Historic Preservation Press.
Orange County Agricultural Aerial Maps. 1938 and 1951. Located at the Archives and Records Section,
Division of Archives and History,Raleigh,NC.
Tate, George W. 1891.Map of Orange County,North Carolina.
U.S. Census. 1850-1880,Agricultural Schedules. Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division.
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Census. 1930.Farm Census Report, Orange County Summaries by Township. Washington,D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office.
U.S. Census. 1941.Population: Characteristics of the Population, North Carolina 1940. Washington,D.C.:
U.S. Government Printing Office,p. 53.
Vukan, George. 1948. Geographical Survey of Orange County. (Chapel Hill: Institute for Research in Social
Science),p. 61.
NPS form 10-900a - OMB Approval No.1024-0019
United States Department of the Interior Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
Orange County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places b
Continuation Sheet
Section number 6,7,8 Page 41
6. Function or Use
Historic Functions Current Functions
GOVERNMENT/Post Office
AGRICULTURE/Agricultural field AGRICULTURE/Agricultural field
AGRICULTURE/outbuilding AGRICULTURE/outbuilding
LANDSCAPE/forest LANDSCAPE/forest
LANDSCAPE/natural feature LANDSCAPE/natural feature
7. Description
Architectural Classification Materials
Greek Revival foundation: stone
Gothic walls: brick
Commercial style stone
Bungalow/Craftsman roof:metal
8. Statement of Significance
Significant Dates Builder
1939 Hayes, Jim
Burch, Coleman
NPS Forth 16-900-a OMB Apwora/No,r024-vr9
(8-861
United States Department of the Interior , , Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads
National Park Service Historic District
National Register of Historic Places Orange County,North Carolina
Continuation Sheet
Section number 10 Page 42 4
GEOGRAPHICAL DATA
UTM References
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Verbal Boundary Description
The National Register Historic District boundary for the Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads Historic District primarily
follows property lines and is most easily defined by reference to Orange County Tax Map numbers 32 and 38 of
Cedar Grove Township. Beginning at the northeast corner of the district, the boundary line originates at the point of
intersection of the northern property line of lot 15,map 32 and Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR 1357). From this
point,the boundary runs east along the northern property line of lot 15,map 32 and turns south to coincide with the
rear(east)propc:-ty line for lot 15, map 32 until it intersects the treeline as indicated on the Cedar Grove Quadrant of
the U.S. Geological Survey Maps. Hence, the boundary runs south along this treeline until it intersects the northeast
corner of lot 14A,map 32. From this point it runs south along the western property line of lot 14A,map 32 until it
intersects Carr Store Road(SR 1004). Hence,the boundary turns west along the north side of Carr Store Road until
it intersects the northeast corner of lot 2, map 38. It then coincides with the east and south boundaries of lot 2, map
38 and continues across Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR1357)to coincide with the southern boundary of lots 20A, 22
23B and 23 and 23A, 39A on map 32. The boundary proceeds west for approximately 400 feet. Then, the boundary
turns west and follows the rear property lines of lots 22, 23B, 23, 26A, 23A, 39A, and 250 feet of lot 39 on map 32.
From this point the boundary proceeds north to the.point at which the northwestern line of lot 39, map 32 intersects
Carr Store Road(SR1004). From this point, the boundary coincides with the northern property line of lot 39 until it
intersects the southeastern corner of lot 34, map 32. From this point, the boundary runs southeast until it intersects
the northwestern comer of lot 28,map 32 and follows the northern line of lots 28 and 29, map 32. From the
northwest comer of lot 29, the boundary crosses Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR1357)to intersect with the originating
point at the northeast corner of lot 15, map 32.
Verbal Boundary Justification
The boundaries of the Cedar Grove Rural Crossroads Historic District encompass entire land tracts and
portions thereof that are historically associated with the original farm tracts owned by community farmers.
The land tracts included are those that currently reflect historic viewsheds and field patterns as indicated on
U.S. Department of Agriculture Aerial Maps dating to 1938. The boundaries encompass the intersection of
Efland-Cedar Grove Road(SR1357) and Carr Store Road(SR1004) which appears on an 1891 survey map of
the Cedar Grove Township(Tate). Each end of the district is anchored with a contributing resource.