The Fairfield News and Herald reported on May 31, 1882 – “Simpson’s Turnout has two schools. The white school is under Ms. J.I. Smith and the colored school is under Mr. John Craig, Senior.”
City Directories and History: This handsome dwelling, date unknown, began as a one story log house known as a “dog trot” style, meaning there were two independent log structures at opposite ends of the house separated by an open area. The two cabins or pins would have shared a roof extending the length of the two log cabins. As the needs of the owners changed and the use of the building changed the house was modernized with additions such as; a central staircase leading to a framed second floor, wainscoting and other elaborate paint finishes were added, and siding covered the original log dwelling. These changes appear to have been made in the early part of the 19th century, and the house took on its’ current image.
Threatened for many years by vandals, the home’s hardware was preserved by a neighbor and it was restored to the home when the dwelling took on owners interested in historic preservation.
The Fairfield County Sketchbook states, “On the old state route from Columbia to Winnsboro this building was the firs stop out of Winnsboro and the last out of Columbia. Horses for the firs state were changed here, and sometimes, when the weather was severe, the passengers would spend the night in the rambling old house. Mail from the community was taken to and dispensed from this building.”
Vaughn’s Stage Coach Stop is a two-story, weather boarded frame, gable-roofed residence with a double-pile and central hall floor plan. The building is significant as an early-nineteenth century vernacular residence in Fairfield County. An 1873 map of Fairfield County indicates that it was located in a rural community known as Simpson’s Turnout [on the Camden Road]. A Fairfield Sketchbook states that this location was on an old stage road between Columbia and Winnsboro. Stylistic elements and composition would support the local tradition of a ca. 1820 construction date. The building sits on a foundation of stone piers, has end chimneys, rear shed rooms, and a left rear addition. The façade features a one-story, shed-roofed porch with a plain wooden balustrade supported by six slender wooden posts. The symmetrical façade displays five nine-over-six windows on the second story aligned above a central double-leaf entrance with multi-paned transom and sidelights, flanked on each side by two nine-over-nine windows. The first floor interior features a central hall with flanking rooms and a stairway with a landing on the right. It also features paneled wainscoting, original paint finishes, and marbleizing that accents the first floor baseboards, mantels, and stair risers. Listed in the National Register December 6, 1984. [Courtesy of the S.C. Dept. of Archives and History]
Click on the More Information > link to find additional data – A Fairfield County Sketchbook, by J.S. Bolick, 2000 (Courtesy of the FCHS)
Also see the Vaughn House II site on R&R.
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