Carolina Ghost Towns

Manchester, South Carolina

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

Willtown Black Mingo

 
Willtown Black Mingo was on Black Mingo Creek in Williamsburg County.  The terms "Willtown" and "Black Mingo" were used interchangeably.  It was also the site of an important battle in the Revolutionary War.
Resources:
History of Williamsburg County
Black Mingo Historical Marker
 

Willtown or New London

Willtown on the Edisto River was first known as New London.  It was the second planned town in South Carolina, after Charleston.  The remaining buildings are now on the National Register of Historic Places.
 
Here are the resources I used in this episode...
Willtown:  An Archeological and Historical Perspective
Willtown Bluff Study
Historical and Archeological Study
Willtown Past and Present
Blog Post - Paddling to Willtown on the Edisto

Shelton

The ghost town of Shelton is located in northwest Fairfield County, South Carolina, along the banks of the Broad River.  The early settlement featured a ferry, but grew into a town with the coming of the railroad.  The major industries were shipping for the surrounding and the Shivar Springs Bottling Company, located just south of the town.Resources used in this episode:
Blog post on RandomConnections
Shelton photos from 1960s - State Newspaper
interview with Tom McConnell
Ron Chicone's History of Shelton
Shivar cisterns on SC Picture Project
National Register Listing for Shivar
Shelton Cemetery
McConnell Cemetery

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