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The "old Dicks home" as it was known by the old folks around Beech Island for over a hundred and fifty years, was built in 1840 by Alfred N. Dicks, the son of Johnathan Dicks and Lucy Stone Dicks, and the great grandson of John Dicks and Mary Gascoigne Dicks. It faced the stagecoach trail which was the only route from Hamburg to Charleston. It later became known as the Minor's Bridge Road and parts of it are still in use today. The house was located near the junction of Pine Log Road and Minor's Bridge Road, in Beech Island, which was known as the New Windsor Township during Colonial days. The county was known as Granville County and stretched from the mountains to the ocean.
According to his will, Alfred owned two highland plantations which included the "Bower's Place" (the Galphin Murray house, built in 1832), and two swamp plantations near the Savannah River.
Granville Plantation was never large by standards of the day, nor were the Dicks family considered to be wealthy. They never owned more than two dozen slaves.
Before building the present Grand House, the family lived in the only two story log house in Beech Island, according to legend which has been handed down through several generations. The well which was lined with wedge bricks, imported from England, still remains, even thought it is not inuse and is in a bad state of repair. The exact location of the old two story log house has not been pinpointed, however it is believed to have been near the old well.
The family cemetery has markers dating back to 1805, and had been the resting place for Alfred's mother, father, and five of his brothers and sisters when he erected a stone in their memory on January 1, 1857.
The house had ten original rooms and ten fireplaces, was finished with plaster and wallpaper, and though not fancy, was a fine home at the time it was built.
Alfred's daughter, Mary Heyward Dicks, was the last of the Dicks family to live in the house. She died during 1928 at the height of the Great Depression. The property was sold for the taxes, to George Rahner Jones and Elizabeth Broome Jones. They lived on the place until the early 1960's. In 1967 they sold it to James H. Goodman, its present owner. Mr. Goodman completely remodeled the house andnamed it Granville Plantation to preserve the memory of Granville County which had been so named from the beginning until after the Colonial era when it disappeared from legal documents. The first change made the area the Ninety Sixth District; the second change made the area Edgefield County; and the th;ird change in County names made this area Aiken County in 1871.
The Grand House was built in 1840 by Alfred N. Dicks. Heart pine and cypress were brought from his swamp plantations on the Savannah River. The brick were also made on the site, probably from mud brought up from the swamp plantations.
The bottom floor was considered to be under the formal house, and all walls, including the inner walls, were made of brick. It is believed that a fmily of house slaves lived in each of the rour rooms on the ground floor. Each had a exterior door and a door opening to the large hall. Each room had a fireplace which was adequate for heating and cooking.
The ceilings on the bottom floor are of hand planed heart pine, and have been preserved. The floor was covered with brick. Certain walls of the original brick are still exposed and preserved.
In 1967 James H. Goodman purchased the old house and began remodeling it. The small square porch was replaced by the present Colonial era porch with eighteen feet fluted columns and Corinthian caps. The front porch of the house was the rear before the remodellingbacause the house was built facing the stagecoach trail from Hamburg to Charleston (later known as the Minor's Bridge Road).
The exterior doors to the bottom floor rooms were closed and short windows installed in their place on the front of the house. A game room and a double garage was added to the rear of the structure. This was the only addition to the first floor.
there are ten fireplaces in the house. All appear to be open, however only the ones in the family room and the study are useable for burning.
The hall is ten feet wide and it is believed that the width was for the purpose of accomodating a horse and carriage. The stairs from the bottom floor to the second floor were very narrow and had a door at the top as well as the bottom. The half moon brich stairs were part of the remodeling.
The remodeling was complete and "from the ground up", with new wiring, plumbing, central heat and air, central vacuum system, and central intercom system. Storm windows and doors were also installed.
The stove vent in the kitchen as well as the clothes dryer in the laundry room are vented up the massive chimneys. A dumb-waiter was installed from the kitchen on the bottom floor to the formal dining room on the second floor.
The second floor is the formal level of the house. The windows are five feet wide by ten feet high. This floor is made up of the guest bedroom and its private bathroom; the dining room; the living room; another bedroom and private bathroom; the master bedroom and bathroom; and the ten feet wide hall. The only additions to the second floor are the master bedroom and two adjoining bathrooms.
The fluted columns with Corinthian caps in the hall were installed during remodeling and are not necessary for support. The decorative moldings and ornate mantels in each room were also added during remodeling. All door hardware is the original antique.
The third floor contains two bedrooms, the large hall, and a large bathroom. The fireplace and chimney are in the middle of each bedroom. This was apparently designed to gain maximum heat from the fireplace. These rooms were rented to teachers at the Beech Island Academy during the 1800's.
The house has a split system of heating and air conditioning. A five ton air conditioner serves the bottom floor and part of the second, while another five ton unit serves the remaining portion of the second floor and the third floor. There are also two fuel oil furnaces connected to these systems. The house is well insulated with styrofoam sheets and blown-in insulation over the third floor.
There is a spacious attic over the third floor. It is here where the wooden pegs can be seen holding the large, long roofing timbers in place.
The remodeling was completed in 1968 and the Goodman family moved in during April of that year.
The Granville Plantation Cemetery or the "Dicks Family Cemetery" was restored in 1990 by James H. Goodman who cleared the area and restored the original brick wall around the oldest section. He placed six brick columns, a cyclone fence, and gate around the overall cemetery so that it can be viewed as a historic shrine.
The first John Dicks and his family, and the second generation, which included Joseph and his family, were buried on the banks of Town Creek. The site has not been located.
Joseph's son Johnathan, his wife, and several of their children were buried in the old section. Alfred, the man who built the present Grand House, erected a monument to their memory in 1857.
Johnthan's son Alfred, his wife Mary, and their children, except Seth, were buried outside the brick wall. Seth was buried in the cemetery at Capers Chapel Methodist Church.
In 1991 Wesley Oneale Dicks, the wife of Dr. Joseph Dicks (an heir to the plantation, but who let it go for taxes during the Great Depression) paid to have the monument erected to the memory of Alfred, Joseph's grandfather, and his family. The CSA star is also permanently placed over the grave of Enoch Dicks, who was a confederate soldier as well as a Red Shirt during the period of Congressional Reconstruction.
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