Union County · Marker 44-03
Cross Keys House
Intersection of Cross Keys Hwy. (S.C. Hwy. 49) & Jones Ford Rd. (S.C. Sec. Rd. 44-22), Cross Keys
Front inscription
A post office was established in 1809 at Cross Keys, S.C. In 1812-14, Barrum Bobo erected this house at the intersection of the Piedmont Stage Road and the Old Buncombe Road. During the ante-bellum period, it was the center of a prosperous plantation. The gables of the building contain the cross keys insignia and the dates of construction.
Reverse inscription
On April 30, 1865, during the retreat from Richmond, Virginia, Jefferson Davis passed through Cross Keys, S.C., accompanied by the Confederate cabinet and his military escort of five brigades. Mrs. Mary Whitmire Davis, who owned the Cross Keys House at that time, afterwards related to her descendants the story of President Davis's luncheon at the house.