{"nrhp_refnum":"78000979","name":"Rucker House","other_names":["Cedar Grove"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"GA 985","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ruckersville","county":"Elbert County","state":"GA","lat":34.16373305350004,"lon":-82.78922814825168,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-06-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Literature","Law","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A plantation house in Ruckersville, Elbert County, Georgia, built by Joseph Rucker shortly after his 1812 marriage and enlarged with two projecting wings and a two-story portico in the late 1830s or early 1840s. It is also known as Cedar Grove.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as a foremost example of a sophisticated Plantation Plain structure with well-considered Greek Revival additions. It is tied to Joseph Rucker, a very wealthy planter who founded the Ruckersville Banking Company in 1838, and to the town of Ruckersville. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Rucker Lamar was born there in 1857, and the author Corra Harris, a great-granddaughter of Joseph Rucker, was also born in Ruckersville.","narrative":"Built soon after Joseph Rucker's 1812 marriage, this two-story weatherboarded house in Ruckersville, Georgia, began as a symmetrical Plantation Plain dwelling with two end chimneys. Their diamond patterns in glazed brick are unusual in Georgia and may reflect the family's Virginia roots. In the late 1830s or early 1840s Rucker added two one-room wings and a four-bay, two-story portico, giving the house Greek Revival detailing. One wing and the portico have since been lost. The wings may have held the office of the Ruckersville Banking Company, which Rucker founded in 1838. Rucker became one of Georgia's wealthiest planters, owning over 13,000 acres by 1860. A cedar and boxwood avenue gave the place the name Cedar Grove. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Rucker Lamar was born here in 1857. Today the house is unoccupied and used as a hay barn, with no original outbuildings surviving.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Joseph Rucker","architectural_style":"Plantation Plain with Greek Revival additions","criteria":[],"status_note":"Unoccupied and in poor condition; one wing and the portico are lost, none of the original outbuildings remain, and the house is used as a hay barn.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:41.223364-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/78000979.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207943","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucker_House_(Ruckersville,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16979568"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/elbert-county/rucker-house-78000979/"}