Simmons House
Also known as: Godfrey Home
Why it's listed
Built in the 1840s for the Simmons family, this one-story wood-frame farmhouse sits on a gentle slope on Cedartown Street in Cave Spring, with hills to the east and floodplains to the west. It follows the Greek Revival style, with a gable roof, weatherboard siding, exterior end chimneys, and a central pedimented portico carried on four square columns. The entry has side and transom lights, the front windows are paired, and the interior has a single room on each side of a central hall plus rooms at the rear. The grounds include very large trees, a broad lawn and a curving dirt driveway with retaining walls. The property was recognized as the finest Greek Revival farmhouse in the Cave Spring area and as a good example of work by rural carpenter-builders. It also represents the smaller farms common to this part of Georgia, and its landscape reflects early agricultural settlement. It remains a residence today.
Significance in brief: The form calls it the finest Greek Revival farmhouse in the Cave Spring multiple-resource area and a very good example of the carpenter/builder tradition. Its hillside setting with large trees, lawns and fields represents the historic rural landscape. It also illustrates the smaller farm, as opposed to the larger plantation, and early white agricultural settlement in the area.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 80001059, listed June 19, 1980. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Cedartown St., Cave Spring |
|---|---|
| County | Floyd County |
| Listed | June 19, 1980 |
| Reference number | 80001059 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Areas of significance | Exploration/Settlement, Architecture, Agriculture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed as a residence in current use. |
| Acreage | 20 |
| Coordinates | 34.09929, -85.33286 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 80001059.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.