Crossways House

Crossways, built before 1860, is an excellent example of the architectural evolution of a residence from its beginnings as the main house on an antebellum Barnwell District plantation to its use as a late nineteenth and early twentieth-century winter residence, part of the Aiken Winter Colony. Little is known about the property before the Civil War, but James L. Derby, a New York publisher and partner in the Aiken Land Improvement Company purchased Crossways in 1868. Mr. Derby is partially responsible for the creation of the Winter Colony in Aiken. The residence is a two-story plantation house which exhibits elements of the Greek Revival and Victorian styles.