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 presented to His Grace, my lord the Duke of Newcastle ... upon the present condition of Carolina, and the means of its amelioration: by Jean Pierre Purry A description of the province of South Carolina, drawn up at Charles Town, in September, 1731. Tr. from Mr. Purry's original treatise, in French, and published in the Gentleman's magazine, for August, September, and October, 1732 The history of South Carolina in the revolution, 1775-1780 Purrysburg Cemetery

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 City Skagit City Ferry Skagit River Log Jams Skagit City School Skagit City School, 2017 Skagit River and former location of Skagit City

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 RandomConnections SC Picture Project

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 vandalism.  It is monitored by surveillance cameras and regular law enforcement patrols.  We were able to visit with an escort from the History Center. Here are some of the resources I used in this episode: Lando-Manetta History Center A Trip to Lando - RandomConnections Blog National Register Listing Wikipedia Entry Lando School - SC Picture Project Manetta Mills - SC Picture Project

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 Family Muniments Childsbury by Henry A. M. Smith Some Forgotten Towns in Lower South Carolina Friends of Strawberry Strawberry Ferry SC Picture Project

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 Stateburg Historical Marker