City Directories and History: The Golightly-Dean House is located in the Golightly community, eight miles south of Spartanburg. It is significant as an unusual example of successive periods of masonry vernacular building in the piedmont region of South Carolina and as an example of the evolution of building styles in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is also important as the residence of the Golightly and Dean families, early settlers of Spartanburg County. Physical and documentary evidence suggests that the one-story, double-pen, masonry wing dates from prior to 1784. Examples of eighteenth century double-pen masonry houses are very rare in South Carolina. The ca. 1830 two-story portion of the house is an unusual example of brick
construction in the South Carolina Piedmont. The plan of this portion of the building is also unusual. Further alterations, made after an 1884 tornado, reflect the continuing evolution of architectural styles depicted by the house. These stylistic and compositional idiosyncrasies combine to create a juxtaposed composition of masses, voids, and decorative elements which give the house its unique character. Behind the house are two outbuildings, a log building which appears to have been used as a smokehouse and a log shed. Listed in the National Register September 29, 1988. (Courtesy of South Carolina Department of Archives and History)
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Nov. 12, 1885 – “A tornado passed over Spartanburg last Saturday. The iron roof of the Baptist Church was lifted up but dropped back into place again. About half the tin roof on the Windsor House was removed.”
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