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The Millers began construction on a small unit of the house which grew
into a large Victorian farm house. It was likely built of the fine
hardwood lumber then available in abundance from the old growth forests
in the area. The cornices above the interior doors and windows in the
entry hall are apparently from that era and are Victorian in style.
Mrs. Miller lived there for many years and continued to write “romance
novels”, a career which earned her the huge sum of more than $100,000 by
1910. She was the real breadwinner in the family as her husband never
found a career in which he could be successful and had meager earnings
as a schoolteacher. He did serve in the West Virginia State Senate from
1901 to 1909. She divorced him for infidelity in 1908 and moved to
Boston.
The Cedars was unoccupied for a time until it was purchased in 1939 by
Ruth Bryan Owen Rhode and her husband. They lived there for 5 years and
made changes to the house to remake it from a typical Victorian
farmhouse to a more elegant and classical style home. They moved two old
buildings to the site to be used as a guest house and horse barn. They
also added the large garage with the recreation room above, known to
locals as the “ballroom”, to the west side of the house.
Mrs. Rhode was the daughter of William Jennings Bryan, the 41st United
States Secretary of State, and was one of the most prominent women of
this nation in her time. In World War I, she served as a nurse. After
the war she had a successful career as a college teacher and lecturer.
In 1933, she was elected to the United States Congress from Florida.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed her as Minster to Denmark
where she is likely to have met her second husband, Captain Borge Rhode.
The next owners were Mr. and Mrs. Andrew McThenia. Mrs. McThenia focused
her attention on the landscaping of the estate. Beginning in 1945, her
planning and work involved the growing and use of hundreds of English
boxwoods throughout the grounds. Remnants of her efforts, including what
may be the largest cypress tree in West Virginia, can be seen.
After being sold by the McCormacks, The Cedars passed through many hands
before being bought by the current owners, Steve and Kath Rose, who live
there now with their daughter, son-in-law, and two beautiful
grandchildren. Steve Rose said, “We fell in love with West Virginia and
bought a cabin in Grassy Meadows. Then we saw this wonderful old house"
(Not sure if the Rose family are still the owners. Check this
link.)
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