Foster's Tavern is an upcountry 19th century historic landmark building in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, located at 191 Cedar Springs Road at the intersection of the old Pickneyville and Georgia roads (highways 56 and 295).[2][3] As of May 2010, it was in private ownership. It is believed to be the oldest brick house in Spartanburg South Carolina, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1970.[1]

Foster's Tavern
Foster's Tavern is located in South Carolina
Foster's Tavern
Foster's Tavern is located in the United States
Foster's Tavern
Location191 Cedar Spring Rd., Spartanburg, South Carolina
Coordinates34°55′18″N 81°53′14″W / 34.92167°N 81.88722°W / 34.92167; -81.88722
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1808
NRHP reference No.70000602[1]
Added to NRHPDecember 18, 1970

History edit

Foster's Tavern was built by Anthony Foster, with construction beginning in 1801 and taking seven years or more to complete. The house is made from locally manufactured bricks, and features tied chimneys (separate chimneys joined by a wall or facade) at each end of a gable roof, hand carved woodwork (including bowed mantels and stair scrollwork), blown-glass windowpanes, soapstone hearths, cattle-hair plaster and original shutter pintles.[2] The portico with its fanlight was added in 1845, and the porches in about 1915.[3]

Foster's Tavern housed John C. Calhoun and Bishop Asbury on their travels through the area; the southeast corner room on the second floor came to be called the John C. Calhoun Room. Guests staying in it always vacated it when Calhoun came to stay.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Fant, Mrs. James W. (May 16, 1970). "Foster's Tavern" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Foster's Tavern, Spartanburg County (191 Cedar Spring Rd., Spartanburg)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 25 August 2012.

External links edit

  • Nutt, Karen, 'Foster's Tavern' full of history, (Google cache) Spartanbug Herald Journal, July 9, 2000.
  • A Special Places Inventory of Spartanburg County, upstateforever.org, pp 14 and 47.
  • Johnson, Talmadge and Tally, Ghosts of the South Carolina Upcountry, The History Press, 2005, p. 66. ISBN 1-59629-057-9
  • Bobo, Ray, Edwin Henry Bobo, 1837–1886, a lieutenant when in the Confederate Army, later a lawyer, state representative and state senator, bought Foster's Tavern from the Anthony Foster Estate after the civil war.