This beautiful residence in historic Hartsville has served as a home, a post office, and a country store. The original house was built in 1840 as a one-story dwelling by Isham Linton. Elihu W. Cannon acquired the property in 1864 and built a store behind it in 1870.
The store also served as the local post office from 1873 until 1878 when Cannon was postmaster. Cannon held many roles in the Hartsville community, including Civil War lieutenant, merchant, farmer, and politician. By 1880 he merged the original house with his two-story addition, turning the former one-story home into a back wing.
The E.W. Cannon House and Store is listed in the National Register:
The E.W. Cannon House and Store are significant as representative examples of the residential and commercial development of Hartsville prior to 1890 and for their association with Elihu W. Cannon (1841-1911), prominent Hartsville farmer and Darlington County politician. The house has architectural integrity from ca. 1880 and incorporates a small one-story ca. 1840 residence built for Isham Linton that now serves as a rear wing. Cannon substantially altered and enlarged the house ca. 1880, and lived here until his death.
This two-story residence is of frame construction with weatherboard siding. It has a rectangular plan, lateral gable roof, and two interior ridge brick chimneys with corbeled caps. A one-story hip roof porch extends across the full façade. The store is located to the rear of the house. Constructed ca. 1870, it is an excellent example of a country store. It is one-and-one-half stories with a rectangular plan and gable roof. The construction is hand-hewn heavy timber frame with log joists and it sits on pole piers. It also served as a post office from 1873 to 1878, when Cannon was Hartsville’s postmaster. The property also includes a ca. 1930 frame garage and a ca. 1880-1900 frame smokehouse.
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