Carolina Ghost Towns

Robertville

Henry Martyn Robert - author of Robert's Rules of Order
Robertville is a small farming community in South Carolina, named for a family of French Huguenots that settled in the region.  The community was the birthplace of Henry Martyn Robert, author of Robert's Rules of Order, and Alexander Robert Lawton, Confederate General and one of the founders of the American Bar Association. 
Robertville Baptist Church is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Cambridge and Ninety Six

Ellenberg Homesite
The modern town of Ninety Six hold close connections to my family.  It's where my grandparents lived, as well as some other, more notorious relatives.  Before modern Ninety Six came the college town of Cambridge, named with aspirations of reaching the lofty status of its namesakes in Massachusetts and England.
Resources for this episode:
Finding Your Roots - Season 5, Episode 10 "All in the Family"
Samuel Campbell Clegg
From a National Park Service report - Ensign Samuel Clegg Samuel Clegg (ca. 1740-1779) was a prominent Loyalist and plantation owner in Craven County
and Edgefield District, South Carolina. He was living in South Carolina by 1766 and owned land by 1768. By the late 1770s Clegg owned more than 1,400 acres in South Carolina. At the time of the American Revolution was married to Barbara Marie Flick and they had four children. Clegg served an Ensign in Colonel Boyd’s regiment and he helped to raise recruits and he participated in the battle of Kettle Creek. Clegg, who was considered by the Patriots to be a “ring leader” of the Loyalist uprising, was captured in the battle and marched as a prisoner to Ninety-Six. Clegg was tried for sedition and treason, and hanged at Ninety-Six in late April, 1779 (S.C.D.A.H. 2009; Cann 2004:4-7; Davis 1979b:172-181).
Star Fort - National Park Service
Cambridge Hash blog post
Siloam Baptist Church
Cambridge Tavern:
Cambridge Hall, later Siloam Baptist Church:
AI voices by ElevenLabs

Season 2 Trailer

Merry Christmas from Carolina Ghost Towns!The new season starts January 14, 2025, with new episodes every other Tuesday.  Be sure to tune in!

Lost Railroad Towns of South Carolina

This bonus episode is a lecture I gave for the Mauldin Branch of the Greenville County Library.  The lecture was on Monday, November 11, 2024, and featured several of the towns that have appeared on previous episodes.

Antioch Presbyterian and GPR

The community of Cashville is located in southwestern Spartanburg County.  It is home to Hurricane Tavern, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It's also home to Antioch Presbyterian Church.  Earlier this month Debbie Weekes invited me to join her and Len Strozier for a survey of the Antioch Cemetery using ground penetrating radar, or GPR.  Len then gave a presentation to the general public about the technology.
In this episode I've included Len's entire presentation, so it's a bit longer than usual.
Here are the links to information shared in this episode...
Blog post
Omega Mapping Systems
Antioch PCA
Upstate Cemetery Presentation Alliance
 

Pinckneyville

Pinckneyville was a town in Union County, South Carolina.  The town was established in the 1790s as the seat of Pinckneyville District.  It was envisioned as the "Charleston of the Upstate."  When Pinckney District was divided into smaller districts, the courthouse was moved to Union.  Pinckneyville started to die out.
National Register Listing
Pinckney District on Carolana
Wikipedia
Research Pinboard
AI Voices by Eleven Labs

Cataloochee

The Cataloochee Valley is a remote area in Western North Carolina, now part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  It was never really a town, but is included on most lists of Ghost Towns in North Carolina.
Cataloochee:  Center of the World - National Park Service Video
NPS Cataloochee Basin
Cataloochee Reunion
Serena, by Ron Rash
Research Pinboard
AI Voices by Eleven Labs

UPDATE: Hurricane Helene

Hurricane Helene has not been kind to us.  Here's a quick update on what to expect over the next few weeks.

Auraria

The town of Auraria was the site of the first gold rush in Georgia.  It was a boom town on a mountain ridge, but died out as the nearby town of Dahlonega grew more prominent.
Auraria : the story of a Georgia gold-mining town / E. Merton Coulter
Etowah River Mine Tunnel Trip

Taphophiles

This is an episode from an old podcast series that I started some years ago.  It's about old cemeteries and headstones, which often are the only remnants left of a ghost town.  Here's a link to the original blog post...
The Stone Carvers