City Directories and History: The Keil Farm is significant as an example of the evolution of an antebellum farm house from the mid-nineteenth to early the twentieth century. The ca. 1850 farm house which evolved from a two-room house plus kitchen and loft building to a seven room house plus finished loft by 1905. The additions involved the same skillful craftsmanship and prime quality lumber as did the original section. There are several distinctive features of the Keil Farm House, including an inset porch with turned and chamfered entrance posts, a well on the back porch off the kitchen, seven outside doors, and over 1,000 square feet of upstairs with unpainted heart pine tongue-and-groove boards on walls and ceiling. The farm presently consists of a one-and-one-half story frame farm house and six outbuildings, including a barn, corn crib, chicken house, smoke house, tenant house, and outhouse or privy. It is thought that most of these outbuildings may have been built by 1860 as that year’s census reports livestock and produce which required shelter and storage. These buildings are clustered in an isolated scenic rural setting surrounded by woods on three sides and pasture on the other. The farm also symbolizes the role that a German immigrant family played in the settlement and development of Walhalla and Oconee County. Listed in the National Register May 20, 1998.
(Courtesy of South Carolina Department of Archives and History)
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