South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

Zeno Hicks House, Cherokee County (int. of U.S. Hwy. 221 & Hill Gap Rd., Chesnee vicinity)
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Facade Left Oblique Right Elevation Rear Elevation Porch Detail
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Interior
Heating Stove
Interior
Stairway
Outbuilding
Corn Crib

(McKinney-Hicks Homeplace) The Zeno Hicks House, built in 1886, is a relatively intact example of a vernacular rural farmhouse of the late nineteenth century and is associated with Zeno Hicks, a prominent local folk doctor and musician of Cherokee County. The house is architecturally significant as a rare example of a central-chimney I-House in the state. Many of the original finishes, such as batten doors, plain mantels and paneled walls still remain. The unusual Y-shaped stair leading to the second floor is the only identified example in the state. Ramus Wadkins, a local craftsman, built the house on land Nan Hicks had inherited from her father. In 1887 Jubilee Lovelace, another local craftsman, added the porch which originally extended around the four sides of the house. The house is a two-story, rectangular frame house built of weatherboard hand sawn from heart pine. A one-story addition was built in 1888 adjoining the main block at the rear; each block has a gabled roof. A one-story porch with shed roof, built in 1887, extends around the façade (southeast elevation) to the southwest elevation on the main block. The rear elevation of the house has a shed roof which continues the porch roof over a small addition created by the partial enclosure of the porch as a storage room c. 1955. The property also contains an historic outbuilding, once used as a corncrib. Hicks, though he had no formal medical training, served the Chesnee community as a doctor and veterinarian, learning from medical books, journals, and experience. Hicks was also a noted musician. He and five brothers formed “the Hicks Orchestra” in 1875, which performed for nearly 50 years in North and South Carolina. Listed in the National Register February 2, 1989.

View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property.

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