Tim and Beth Worth stand in front of the fireplace in one of the rooms of their spacious newly restored Plantation home in Edgefield. It was one of the homes featured in the Christmas Tour of Historic Edgefield homes.

Beth Worth always loved old houses and her husband Tim was handy with restoration projects. So, in an 18-month time frame, together they have almost completely restored an early Plantation home on Buncombe Street in Edgefield.

"I didn’t want just an old house, I wanted an historical home,” Mrs. Worth said.

Known as Halcyon Grove, the grand structure dates back to around 1824 when Eldred Simpkins deeded the property to Daniel Bird. Bird sold the property to Francis Pickens in 1829. Pickens must have given or sold the house to his father, former Gov. Andrew Pickens who sold it to John Lipscomb in 1836.

In 1857, it was sold to James B. Sullivan who owned it until 1869 when Samuel Wright Nicholson purchase it for his daughter, Lucy Jane, widow of Capt. John Pearson Bates. The house remained in the Bates-Hartley-Feltham family until 2008 when it was sold to the Worths.

The house features front windows with panel doors below which can be raised and opened to allow movement from the front rooms to the front porch, feather-painted wainscoting, an intricately carved archway, hidden staircase, original carpenter locks, Bushels-of-Wheat banisters with lattice columns and a magnificent fanlight over the front porch. One of the most interesting features is the upstairs back porch which was used as a sleeping porch.

The Worths have managed to preserve much of the house’s valuable history and many of the furnishings are from the previous owner.

This home was one of the showpieces in Saturday’s Christmas Tour of Historic Edgefield Homes sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

“Tim is very good with woodwork and such,” said Mrs. Worth. “Many of the decorations were done by Gail Mercer of Mercy Me! And all the floral designs were done by Nancy Gilliam and Maine Gilchrist.”

The tour began at Oakley Park where visitors where greeted with hot apple cider and cookies.

This two-story antebellum mansion sits on a forty-acre estate facing west down a distinctive driveway framed with pink sasanquas. The view is along Main Street and the Edgefield Courthouse. The house, built in 1835, contains much Civil War history.

It was dedicated to the memory of Major-General Martin Witherspoon Gary, Confederate States Army, who died on the premises. The property was presented to the Town of Edgefield in 1941 by John Gary Evans. The care and keeping of the home was entrusted to the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Other homes featured on the tour included The Pattison House on Columbia Road, a bungalow which was popular in the early part of the 20th century, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Emmett Quarles and purchased from Miss Ouida Pattison; the Kemp House on Columbia Road, owned by Scott and Vickie Mims, a 103-year-old historic home that was once contained on a dairy and chicken farm; Holly Hill on Gray Street, owned by Tim and Julie Prince, which dates back to 1767 and exhibiting details of the Colonial, Federal and Victorian periods; and Magnolia Dale, home of the Edgefield Historical Society, built on the site of the first residence in Edgefield dating from approximately 1762, and open by appointment as a house museum containing many interesting artifacts including the dining room table of Governor and Senator Benjamin Ryan Tillman and a sideboard belonging to Gov. George McDuffie.

Tour of Churches

The 20th Annual Walking Tour of Churches in Edgefield Sunday began at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Buncombe Street, traveled to Edgefield First Baptist and ended at Edgefield United Methodist Church on Bacon Street. At each church, a portion of the depiction of Christ’s birth was presented. A holiday reception followed at Magnolia Dale House Museum. Trinity Episcopal was not featured on the tour this year because of renovations.

Geneva Burton, her husband Michael and their children were doing the tour for the first time. “We’re in the process of moving here from Columbia and we’ve been attending Mass at the Catholic Church,” she said. “This is so much fun! I’m glad we didn’t miss it.”

All of the churches on the tour have been the religious mainstay of the Edgefield community for years and have their beginnings in the 1800s. The tour is sponsored by the Edgefield County Historical Society.