Cedar Grove is actually two separate houses almost conjoined together-- a small one story Federal style house, ca. 1825, and a later and much larger "Greek Revival" house built in 1855. Both are constructed of brick, rest on sandstone foundations, and have gable roofs. Together, the houses present a ninety foot frontage, contain nine original rooms and have twenty-seven doors. The house faces south from the base of the river hills that rise from the Missouri River bottoms. A spacious yard contains several sizeable trees including the large cedars, for which the house was named. A hewn stone retaining wall delimits the edge of the front yard; beyond is a Granite marker noting the route of the Santa Fe trail placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution. County Route Z now passes in front of the house and the nearest town of consequence is New Franklin, two miles to the east. Associated with the property are a dilapidated "slave" house, several dilapidated outbuildings and a significant barn built with a hewn, timber frame. Nicholas Amick House The one story west section of Cedar Grove is the original Federalist house. It is constructed of brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern on the primary facade, common bond on the remaining facades, and rests on a sandstone foundation.... The interior of the Nicholas Amick house is of the hall and parlor type, the hall being a twenty foot square room, the parlor an approximately twelve by twenty room. These rooms are partitioned by a load bearingbrick wall. The "old kitchen 1" that makes up the rear ell is thirteen by seventeen feet. A rock lined cellar underlies the hall and reveals that the floor rests on log sleepers some eighteen inches in diameter. Horace Kingsbury House The Horace Kingsbury house is a traditional central passage I-form five bays wide and of brick construction resting on a sandstone foundation. Outbuildings Just behind the house is a frame outbuilding, once the servants' quarters, which is now in poor shape. Another small frame building sits by the garden and a chicken house is also in back. Only the foundations remain of the springhouse and the smokehouse. Barn A barn is located some 120 meters east of the Kinqsbury residence. This barn is of a transverse crib variety with shed additions that encircle the building on the north, west and south sides with yet another lean-to on the downhill south side. Heavy hand hewn beams approximately 12" square are mortised together to support this stout structure and all rafters consist of poles with the bark stripped off. Although the study of Missouri barns is still in its infancy, this barn must be an old one, at least the contemporary of the Kingsbury if not the Amick House.
