Cave Spring Commercial Historic District

Cave Spring's historic downtown occupies about six acres around the meeting point of Alabama Road, Broad Street, Rome Road, Cedartown Road and Padlock Street. Most of its buildings are one- and two-story brick structures from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, set against the sidewalk with continuous facades. Brick appears in piers, pilasters, stringcourses, parapet panels, segmental arches and corbelled cornices, while some storefronts use wood to imitate cast iron. A wood-framed Greek Revival-era hotel or residence at the south end is noted as an unusual survivor. A small triangular park, formed where country roads meet the town's gridiron streets, anchors the district. Commerce has centered here since the late 1830s or early 1840s, beginning with general stores and expanding after the Civil War to include cobblers, grocers, druggists, blacksmiths, tanneries and hotels. The district was recognized for its architecture, park landscaping, commercial history and its example of unplanned small-town growth at a crossroads. Some buildings have been altered and a few demolished.