The Usry House was the first privately held property in McDuffie County to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Since its pioneer beginnings in 1795 as a two-room structure to its beautiful and intriguing large porticoed transformation by 2003, the Usry House has been home to seven generations of the Usry family. Built by William Usry as the seat of his extensive cotton plantations, the Usry House was a center of ante-bellum social life in the region. In its parlor, the Goodrich-Usry Railroad was conceived. Architecturally, it favors neo-classical lines and boasts a suspended balcony - one of the largest in the South. The Usry House has a “keeping room” that was integrated into the house from the old kitchen that had originally been a separate structure. In this room slave-made bricks were utilized from the original structure along with paneling salvaged from it.