Carolina Ghost Towns

Phoenix

The community of Phoenix in Greenwood County, South Carolina was the site of an election riot in 1898.  The riot pitted black citizens who wished to vote against the white citizens and Jim Crow era laws.
Blog post
Benjamin Mays Site

Bonus - Lost Towns under South Carolina Lakes

This bonus episode is the audio from a presentation given at the Mauldin Branch of the Greenville County Library.  
Link to presentation slides

Samish-Atlanta

 
Samish Island is nearly 3000 miles from the Carolinas, but it has close ties to our region, especially Western North Carolina.  This is the story of two ghost towns on the island that waged their own version of the Civil War.
Blog Post - PNW Connections - The Lost Cause
Blog Post - PNW Connections - Tar Heel Land
Tales of the Magic Skagit
Skagit County History Museum
George Washington Lafayette Allen
Plat for the town of Atlanta
Plat for the town of Samish

Henry River Mill Village

The Henry River Mill Village in Burke County, North Carolina, is an abandoned village used as the setting for District 12 in the movie The Hunger Games.  Here are the links to resources linked in the episode:
Blog Post
Henry River Mill Village
In with the Old
 

Willington

In this episode I talk to Scott Withrow, who co-taught a course on Lost Communities with me at Furman University.  Scott lends his expertise on the ghost town of Willington.
Leegstadt Scale for Ghost Towns, developed by Dave Baker
Type A: A completely barren site with no remnants remaining to suggest a town, community, or village of any type ever existed here.
Type B: A site of rubble and roofless buildings remaining with no obvious population or a location marked with only a sign noting that something once existed.
Type C: A Cemetery (may or may not have a sign, and may or may not share the same name of the community), church, creamery, bridge, mill, fort or other civic indicator remains to mark where a town, or village existed. These can be representative of a township so long as it is no further than one mile from the site.
Type D: A semi-abandoned community. Site may have a few residences but all commercial and industrial buildings are abandoned.
Type E: A historic Community. Site may have some residences and fewer than ten commercial and industrial buildings that are in use.
Type F: A restored, fabricated, or semi-dilapidated community maintained as an attraction or within a park.
Type G: Integrated Community: The site was either annexed into a neighboring community or is presently a location where new homes or buildings occupy the site of a former town.
 
In addition to these types, Baker further defines a ghost town as to whether or not it was ever incorporated as an actual town.
 
Group 1: A formerly platted and incorporated city or town
Group 2: A formerly platted unincorporated city or town
Group 3: A formerly non-platted community of industrial or commercial significance (usually related to coal mining or quarries, but there are several towns in the Carolinas centered around other industries such as textiles and logging.)
Group 4: An informal community, non-platted which surrounded around a central location or locations, examples of these include a school, church, creamery, or railroad station
Group 5: An informal community created on or centered around private land. May or may not have been subdivided into lots.
Group 6: A pioneer village having been established within ten years of statehood with no formal recognition otherwise
Resources:
Midwest Ghost Towns with Dan Cline
Willington on the Way
Photos:
Sara Jungst in the bookstore with friends
Old Store display in history center
Cowan Family Band
Cowan Instruments
History Center diorama
Old Willington Post Office
Willington Academy Location and Cemetery

Petersburg, Lisbon, and Vienna

The towns of Petersburg, Lisbon, and Vienna were located on the Savannah River at its confluence with the Broad River.  Petersburg and Vienna were on the Georgia side, and Vienna was across the Savannah in South Carolina.
Resources:
Blog Post
Plan of Petersburg
Old Petersburg report
Moses Waddel
Augusta Canal

Tunnel Hill

Tunnel Hill was the shanty boomtown for workers working on the Stumphouse Tunnel, part of the Blue Ridge Railroad.  It was abandoned around the time of the Civil War when the railroad ran out of money to complete the project.
Blog post
Additional voices by Elevenlabs.io.  

Renno

Renno was a railroad farming town in the Jacks Township of Laurens County, South Carolina.
Renno Blog Posts
Exploring Laurens County 2008
Renno and Stomp Springs 2011
Exploring Jacks Township 2013
Renno Revisited 2018
Township definitions:
A town is a populated area with commerce and administrative functions concentrated in a specific area
A township is an administrative area, similar to a county, but smaller.  It can contain several towns or cities.
Laurens County Townships:
Images of Bell's Store:
Images of Renno School:
Sardis Church Cemetery:

Temple of Health

The Temple of Health was a stage coach stop in upper Abbeville County. It got its name from a set of springs that were purported to have healing properties.
Here are the links to information within the podcast…
Blog posts:
The Temple of Health
Ground Truthing
Trembly Bald
Script for this episode
The theme music for Carolina Ghost Towns is “Summertime” by LesFM. Other incidental music is from Pixabay.
You can reach us at CarolinaGhostTownsPod@gmail.com. 
www.randomconnections.com

Ferguson

Ferguson was a lumber town founded an the banks of the Santee River by the Santee River Cypress Lumber Company. All that's left of the town is on Ferguson Island in Lake Marion.
Here are the links to information within the podcast…
Multiple blog posts:
The Ghost Towns of Lake Marion - Part One, Part Two, Part Three
Return to Ferguson
Script for this episode
The theme music for Carolina Ghost Towns is “Summertime” by LesFM. Other incidental music is from Pixabay.
You can reach us at CarolinaGhostTownsPod@gmail.com. 
www.randomconnections.com