Hagood-Mauldin House
Hagood-Mauldin House / Irma Morris Museum of Fine Arts
Significant for its architecture and for its association with James Earle Hagood,
Judge Thomas J. Mauldin, and Frances “Miss Queen” Hagood Mauldin.
When Pickens District was divided into Oconee County and Pickens County in 1868, the house was disas-sembled, each board and beam was carefully numbered, and it was loaded onto wagons and reconstructed at its present site in the “new” town of Pickens. The original house was constructed using log beams and joists at the floor and attic, each carefully cut, fitted, and pegged. It is believed that Mr. Hagood made additions to the house shortly after 1868 and later in 1886. Judge Thomas J. Mauldin expanded the front porch to a Classical Revival style in 1904 and also added, just to the south of the house, a smaller Classical Revival style building that he used as a law office.
From its earliest days, the house was a social and political center. “Miss Queen” Hagood, daughter of James Earle, a prominent DAR and UDC leader, lived all her life in this house. She married Judge Thomas Mauldin and entertained the Confederate veterans here each year on the birthday of President Jefferson Davis.
The last owner, antiques collector Irma Hendricks Morris, bequeathed the house and its rare furnishings to the Pickens County Historical Society.
- 104 N. Lewis St
Pickens, SC 29671
The SC house the old Confederate veterans called home
Original Appalachian History post by Dave Tabler | September 7, 2012
After her father died in 1904, Frances Miles Hagood (aka “Miss Queen”) inherited his house in Pickens, SC.
That same year she married Judge Thomas J. Mauldin, and the two of them remodeled the Hagood house from a simple farmhouse with a detached kitchen to a sumptuous Classical Revival dwelling. They added a detached law office building in the same style.
Judge Mauldin served as judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit of South Carolina from 1914 until his death in 1931. He graduated from The Citadel in 1891 and was admitted to the bar in 1892, but he taught for several years before entering the legal profession.
He was also editor of a local newspaper for a time, and during his lifetime was a Mason, a Shriner, a member of the Sons of the Confederacy, and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He and Frances helped organize the Pickens chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which held annual meetings on the grounds of the house for many years to honor surviving veterans of the Civil War.
Frances Hagood Mauldin remained a social leader of the community until her death in 1954, was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was president of the South Carolina Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. Each June 2, the old soliders of the Confederacy met at their home for a parade and picnic.
The earliest section of the Hagood-Mauldin House was built about 1856 in Old Pickens Court House. The first owner, James Earle Hagood (1826-1904), son of wealthy landowner Benjamin Hagood, was a public official, lawyer, and planter of Pickens District. Hagood was a merchant until 1856, when he began his public career as Clerk of the Circuit Court of Pickens District, a position he held until 1868. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hagood was made Commissioner in Charge of the Poor and a member of the Soldiers’ Board of Relief.
He loyally gave material to the cause of the Confederacy. Among his duties, he made several trips to and from the battlefields of Virginia, bringing home the sick and wounded soldiers as well as recovering the bodies of solider who had died in service, and ministering to the destitute and dependent families of the soliders in the field.
When Pickens District was divided into Pickens and Oconee Counties in 1868 Hagood was appointed to the Board of Special Commissioners which was authorized to select a site for the town of New Pickens (the present town of Pickens). He acted as Secretary Treasurer of that Board. He also served as Clerk of the Probate Court in the new county seat and as Clerk of the Board of Pickens County Commissioners (initially convened in 1868).
In that year, he had his house dismantled, the rafters and beams numbered, and moved to New Pickens. He was soon elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives and served Pickens County in the General Assembly 1869-1872 during the same period that he practiced law with partner Joseph J. Norton.
In May 1873, Hagood was appointed Clerk of the United States Circuit Court for the District of South Carolina in Charleston, serving in that capacity for 30 years.
Each room in the Hagood-Mauldin House was heated by a fireplace, and each fireplace mantel and trim has a different design and style. A traditional southern-style deep front porch is located on the west side of the house, with a low sloped roof and round spindle columns to form the entry. The cooking house was to the rear, separated from the main house. Several windows are triple-hung sash with cross lattice glass panels.
The Pickens County Historical Society acquired the house in 1987 from the estate of Mrs. Irma Hendricks Morris, and the home was opened as a fine arts museum in October of the following year. In 1997 the home was accepted onto the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: National Register