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CEDAR GROVE CROSSROADS COMMUNITY 16
<br /> STATEMENT OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE °
<br /> (excerpted from the National Register Nomination report by Shannon Sexton)
<br /> To be eligible for National Register listing, a property must meet one of the four Criteria for Evaluation.
<br /> The Cedar Grove Crossroads-Community satisfies the requirements articulated in Criterion A, which
<br /> states: "Properties can be eligible for the National Register if they are associated with events that have
<br /> made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history". (How to Aagiv the National Register
<br /> Criteria for Evaluation, p. 12). In applying Criterion A, a property may be associated with one (or both) of.
<br /> two types of events: 1) "a specific event marking an important moment in American prehistory or history;
<br /> or 2)A pattern of events or a historic trend that made a significant contribution to the development of a
<br /> community, a State, or the nation." Under this second type of event,the patterns or trends must be
<br /> closely associated with the property, and the property must retain its integrity.
<br /> Cedar Grove qualifies for the National Register under this second category of events. The crossroads
<br /> community of Cedar Grove is associated with the historic pattern of development in rural, agricultural
<br /> communities of focusing commercial and social centers along the intersection of two major roads. Cedar
<br /> Grove was one of the ten primary rural communities that developed in Orange County during the
<br /> nineteenth century, and it is one of, if not the best, surviving example of a rural crossroads community
<br /> remaining in the county. During the nineteenth century, crossroads communities, particularly their
<br /> general stores, school buildings, and churches were important social centers(Johnson,Ante-Bellum
<br /> North Carolina, p. 98-9).
<br /> Cedar Grove's existence as a rural village can be traced as far back as 1828,when the village's first post
<br /> office was established with Joseph Allison its postmaster(Postmasters of Cedar Grove). Throughout the
<br /> nineteenth century it served as a commercial, social, and educational center for the outlying agricultural
<br /> families. By 1850, Cedar Grove supported, in addition to Cedar Grove Academy; a tanner, coachmaker,
<br /> doctor, and a drygoods, hardware and grocery store. (Manufacturing Census, 1850) By the late
<br /> nineteenth century, Cedar Grove had a sawmill, plug tobacco factory,two churches, a post office,
<br /> several stylish residences, a doctor's office, a blacksmith, and a coachmaker. (Carter and Peck, Historic
<br /> Resources, p. 122)
<br /> The criteria for evaluation states that a property must retain its historic integrity. For the purposes of this
<br /> nomination,the years of significance date back to only 1880. This date marks the earliest period in
<br /> which enough of the existing structures were already built to form a genuine community. As early as the
<br /> 1880s, a general store operated in Cedar Grove and Benjamin C. Patton was principal of the Cedar
<br /> Grove Academy (Branson, North Carolina Business Directory, p. 499). And, many remaining homes
<br /> were already standing. By the 1880s, early manifestations of the John Paisley Hughes House,the
<br /> Lindsay House,the Dr. C.M. Hughes House,the Pender House, the Ellis House, and the Mary Hughes
<br /> Attachment#4
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