Carolina Ghost Towns

  Happy Fourth of July!   I'm taking some time off from the podcast to travel and be with family.  I'll be back with more episodes later in August.  Until then, have a great summer!

In the 1730s, a group of Swiss and French Huguenots let by Jean Pierre Purry came to South Carolina and settled on the Savannah River.  Their new town became known as Purrysburg. These are some of the resources used in this episode: Blog Post - Grave Matters on the Savannah Blog Post - A Paddle and a Pow Wow on the Savannah River A History of Purrysburg on Carolana Wikipedia article Memorial prese...

Skagit City Since I'm in the Pacific Northwest, I thought it would be good to do another ghost town from this area.  Today's ghost town is Skagit City in Washington.  This is another town with connections to the Southeast. Here are some of the resources I used in this episode... Skagit River Journal Tales of the Magic Skagit Ghost Camps and Boom Towns by JoAnn Roe Blog Post - Searching for Skagit...

This week I'm traveling and I've got a bad head cold, so I'm reposting an episode from Season 1.  I hope to be back in a couple of weeks with new episodes.

The town of Totness was a resort for the wealthy in Calhoun County.  It had no central business district or town layout, but it was chartered as a town in 1855. When Sherman's troops came through in 1864 the village was never rebuilt. Most of the resources used in this episode are from newspapers.com and behind a paywall.  Here are the only two that might be publicly available: Blog Post on Random...

The town of Jalapa was named for Xalapa, Mexico after members of the Palmetto Regiment fought near there in the Battle of Cerro Gordo.   Now just a crossroads in Newberry County, it was once an active community with stores, churches, and a school. Most of the information I used in this episode can be found on my blog post, Seeking Jalapa .

Lando is a largely abandoned mill town in eastern Chester County.  It was once the largest producer of blankets in the US.  The only remnants left from the town are the old school and the old mill store, which is now the Lando-Manetta History Center. Please note - in this episode we describe a visit to the interior of the Lando School.  The school is on private property and has been the victim of...

Instead of linking all of the resources mentioned in this episode, I decided to do a podcast with a transcript of the show and with the links mentioned, plus a couple of others I forgot to include.  This can be found on the RandomConnections website at this link.

Childsbury was a settlement on the Cooper River, inland from Charleston.  It was one of the oldest planned towns in South Carolina, and Strawberry Chapel is one of the oldest extant buildings in the state. Here are some of the resources I used for this episode: A History of Childsbury Wikipedia Entry National Register of Historic Places Childsbury Towne Heritage Preserve James Child Archives Child...

Located in the High Hills of the Santee, Stateburg missed out on being the state capital of South Carolina by one vote.  It was the home of General Thomas Sumter. Here are some of the resources: Wikipedia Article Claremont County Stateburg Historic District History of Stateburg National Register Listing South Carolina Encyclopedia Church of the Holy Cross High Hills Baptist Church Battle of Stateb...

The town of Proctor was a logging town located on the north shore of Lake Fontana.  When the lake was flooded, access was cut off to the town site, and specifically to the 34+ cemeteries located on the northern shore of the lake.  A road to the cemeteries was promised, but never completed.  Now, a "Road to Nowhere" ends 10 miles short of its destination. These are some of the resources used in thi...

When the Fontana Dam was completed in 1944, the newly created lake inundated several communities in Western North Carolina, including the towns of Judson and Almond.  This week we take a look at Judson, on the southern side of Lake Fontana. Here are some of the resources used in this episode; Remembering Judson A Visit to the Judson of 1943 Following Wagon Trails - 1890s Almond Christopher Columbu...

Fort Madison, Old Madison, and New Madison were located on the Tugaloo River in the western part of Oconee County.  Here are some of the links I used in this episode: Incorporation of Madison Tugaloo Corridor Tugaloo Town Trip to Long Nose Falls

This week we visit the ghost town of Fort Motte, in Calhoun County, South Carolina.  The town takes its name from a British garrison, which was named after the plantation owner, Rebecca Brewton Motte.   Resources: On the Road with Charles Kuralt Fort Motte - Wikipedia Siege of Fort Motte Rebecca Motte National Register of Historic Places

The next season of Carolina Ghost Towns is about to drop!  This season begins on January 6, with new episodes coming out every other Tuesday.  Be sure to subscribe and recommend the show to your friends!

I had really hoped to be back on track with ghost towns, but things just haven't worked out.  We're still in temporary housing after Hurricane Helene over a year ago.  It's been frustrating.  I put the podcast on hold because I thought we would be busy moving back in, but it's been one delay after another. I have done lots of research and I've got a long list of potential episodes, so there's lots...

Jewish workers in the Socialist Commune of Happyville, Aiken, SC Happyville was a short-lived agricultural commune near Montmorceni in Aiken County, South Carolina.  The community was based on socialist concepts, and was sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, which wanted to bring in Eastern European Jewish immigrants to work the farmland.  The project was purely racist, with t...

Kingdom of the Happy Land by Gary Carden. Acrylic on canvas, 36”x24”.  Source The Kingdom of Happy Land was a settlement of freed slaves on the North Carolina/South Carolina border near Tuxedo, North Carolina.  The Kingdom had a King and Queen, and was operated as a socialistic society with all sharing equally.  Resources: Blog Post - Seeking the Kingdom of Happy Land Happy Land - Dolen Perkins-Va...

Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, was the first town in the United States governed by freed slaves.  It was part of the Port Royal Experiment . Partial list of links: Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park Archeology at Mitchelville Mitchelville: Experiment in Freedom The archaeological manifestations of the "Port Royal Experiment" at Mitchelville, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina...

Instead of towns that disappeared, today we look at towns that never existed. Through my research I’ve found four categories of these so-called Paper Towns A town planned out on paper that never really took off. A town that was never meant to exist, but was advertised simply as a scam for investors. An area incorporated for political reasons, such as a town on the edge of a larger town incorporate...

The colonial town of Dorchester is located on the Ashley River, just north of Charleston.  Settled by Congregetionalists, it was once the third largest town in South Carolina. Now only the old bell tower of the St. George's Church and the tabby fortifications remain.  Old Dorchester is now a historic site and part of the South Carolina Parks System. Here are some of the resources used in this epis...

Merrittsville was a community in norther Greenville County in what has become known as The Dark Corner.  Once a stopover for travelers, the region was notorious for moonshining and other illegal activities.  Now.  The town lies under the Greenville Watershed Reservois. Resources: Blog Post - Remembering Merrittsville Benjamin Merritt Genealogy Poinsett Bridge National Register Merrittsville - Now...

This week we look at three ghost towns.  These towns featured academies that played a large part of the town.  When the academies closed down, the towns went into decline.  This episode looks at the towns of Minervaville in Richland County, South Carolina, which had the Minerva Academy, Slabtown in Anderson County, which had the Thalian Academy, then the Slabtown Academy, and Sievern in Aiken Coun...

Ellenton, Dunbarton, Meyers Mills, and Leigh were small towns in Aiken and Barnwell Counties that were uprooted to make way for the Savannah River Plant to make atomic and hydrogen bombs. I used lots of references and audio clips in this episode.  Here are the clips that I used in putting together this story. Blog post - Hamburg and the Atomic Towns " I Don't Live there Anymore " - Lawrence Holofc...

Manchester is a ghost town in Sumter County, on the east side of the Poinsett Electronic Warfare Range.  It was settled in the 1700s, but disappeared in the mid-1800s. Resources: Archeological Studies Wilmington and Manchester Railroad from Wikipedia Blog Post