City Directories and History: Built ca. 1790 by John Blocker (grandson of Prussian émigré, Michael Blocker), Cedar Grove is a large two-story house in the Federal style with white clapboard exterior and high gable roof. The double-tiered portico features delicate Adamesque detail. The first level portico has two, fluted engaged columns at the rear and is supported by four slender columns crowned with square capitals and mounted on raised pedestals. An ornate balustrade encloses the portico. The main entrance has double doors surmounted by a semi-elliptical fanlight with geometric design that is flanked on both
sides by diamond-paned sidelights. The second level portico has four square columns with Tuscan capitals that form a flat central arch with basket handle arches on either side. Two engaged columns are at the rear, and a pediment of delicate proportions above the second level portico is decorated with dentil ornamentation. The portico shelters double doors with diamond paned sidelights and is enclosed by a balustrade identical to that of first level portico. Like at his grandfather’s home, the Blocker House, the grounds feature a landscape of tall cedars brought from Prussia, as well as old English boxwoods and traces of an original rose garden. Outbuildings, including a servant’s quarters and original kitchen, still stood on the property at the time of its nomination. Listed in the National Register October 14, 1971.
(Courtesy of South Carolina Department of Archives and History)
“John Blocker, Jr., grandson of Michael Blocker built Cedar Grove about 1804. The place was bought in 1825 by John Bones, ancestor of the present owner, Miss Sallie Mae Nicholson.
The place takes its name from the stately cedars standing in the front yard. Servants* quarters and the original plantation kitchen remain on the place and there is also a handsome piazza overlooking a terraced rose garden. Skilled hand carving is seen in reception rooms and the hallway. Hand-painted scenic wallpaper designed especially for Cedar Grove and imported from France before the French Revolution adorns the parlor.”
“The Abner Blocker House – This house was a match to Cedar Grove and was built in 1804. The house burned about 1870. Abner Blocker and John Blocker both moved West after they built these beautiful plantation houses.”
Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC
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