Acworth's most grand estate, nestled down a winding drive, is the original home place of E. L. Shuford.

Mr. Shuford completed his house in the early 1870's; however, according to recent architectual findings, it is believed that construction of this home dates back prior to the Civil War. The house was probably built as a "Salt Box Plantation".

Mr. Shuford was a young, wealthy carpetbagger from the north, a bachelor, who enjoyed big parties and entertaining his guests in grand style. With that in mind, he built a Grand Ballroom to host his dances. Mr. Shuford, also known to have been quite a "ladies' man", brought in a large rock for his lady friends to use to get on and off their horses. The "Shuford Rock" is still under the huge cedar tree to the right of the front porch.

The antebellum mansion has been the residence of the Abbott family for close to one hundred years. Mrs. Abbott named the estate "The Cedars" because of the huge beautiful trees that adorn the property. She told her grandchildren that on a clear day, she could see Red Top Mountain and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Mrs. Abbott enjoyed writing. She had printed stationery that read: "writing to you from the Cedars".

The house features a grand foyer with an eleven-foot ceiling. In the 1800's the grand foyer would have served as a formal parlor. According to the Abbotts, the two front rooms once had hand-painted murals on the ceilings (one had roses and the other angels). The downstairs has hardwood floors that date back to the early 1930's. The house has a total of six fireplaces. The present kitchen is believed to have been the original porch. The original flooring is tongue and groove heart of pine. The original "root cellar" is off the kitchen. The detached room in the back was the original kitchen. Two of the windows in this room were outside doors for the slaves to enter. All wealthy families in those days had two kitchens, one inside and one outside.

The upstairs is like stepping back in time. As the story goes, Mr. Shuford's house was likely so large that he allowed his upstairs to be on the stagecoach run. Travelers would rent a room for the night and so there were two entrances to the upstairs, one from the outside and one from inside the main house. It is apparent that the staircase has been revised since the early 1800's. As you will see, the original construction is still sound today. All the ceilings and floors are solid tongue and groove heart of pine.

Mr. Shuford loved Europe and wanted to have a unique looking home for people to view. He had the cathedral windows in the upstairs shipped from Europe. Rumor has it that Mr. Moore, Mr. Shuford's neighbor, liked the windows so much, he had Mr. Shuford order windows for his plantation home. Today you can still enjoy the uniqueness of these windows in both homes on Northside Drive.

The huge attic room has provided many fond memories, not only for the Abbott children, but also for some of their neighbors and friends. Several Acworth neighbors have heard about their grandparents, as children, gathering in the Abbott's attic to tell ghost stories. The attic has a secret passage that was used for hiding important documents and probably family money. The magnificent view of the grounds from the balcony off the upstairs parlor makes it easy to envision a young lady watching for her gentlemen callers or the Southern Belles with their hooped skirts during lawn parties.

In 1906 the "Abbott House" was hit by a tornado. According to Mr. Abbott, the outside kitchen and barn were destroyed. After that, the Abbotts built a large brick smokehouse located in the rear of the house where they would smoke and cook their meats. There was also another root cellar under the smokehouse.This beautiful estate of four acres is currently owned by Brigita Rowe.