On June 22, the Saluda County Historical Society held its monthly meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. D. S. Cone, Jr. and their son Converse.

D. S. & Betty Ann Cone and their son Converse

A little history of the home: Joseph Calhoun Watson, Sr. and Elizabeth Nicholson Watson built this house in the 1880s on West Main Street next to Ridge Spring School. Joseph grew up several miles northwest of Ridge Spring at what is now called Speigner. Elizabeth grew up about two miles southwest of Ridge Spring in the same house in which Clinton Ward, the founder of Ward, SC was reared.

They were married on January 23, 1884. With his brother, he established a successful mercantile business on Main Street in 1880, which stood where 2 Marks, Inc. is located presently. He also operated a farm on acreage north of the homestead.

Mr. and Mrs. Watson were blessed with four children; Mr. Watson died in 1896, a few days before their sixteenth wedding anniversary. Their youngest son was just four years old. Mrs. Watson remained in the house until her death in 1939.

In the early 1900s the front porch was extended around the corners to form a wrap-around porch. The four floor windows in the music room and living room were used as doorways to the porch. One of the carbide glass lights which were installed throughout the house in the early1900s remains on the wall of the downstairs bath.

In 1965 Dallas Simmons Cone, Jr. and Betty Ann Jordan Cone purchased the house from Joe Cal Watson III. Twenty years later in 1985, to escape a dust problem, the house was moved one mile south of town. Weighing 240 tons the house was taken in one piece with the porches and two chimneys attached. To date, the house has been the setting for 45 years of wonderful times for the entire Cone family.

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