A FLOODED FARM, A HAUNTED ISLAND AND A CEMETERY ALMOST LOST TO TIME LAKE. HARTWELL HARBORS ITS FAIR SHARE OF LEGENDS AND TODAY OUR PEYTON FURTADO EXPLORED ONE HERSELF. SHE TAKES US TO CEMETERY ISLAND AND IT’S ALL NEW AT SIX. WHEN YOU HEAD OUT TO LAKE HARTWELL, YOU MIGHT BE GOING FOR A DAY ON THE BOAT, A DAY IN THE WATER. BUT WHAT A LOT OF FOLKS DON’T REALIZE IS THERE’S SO MUCH HISTORY HERE. JUST BELOW THE SURFACE AND IN SOME AREAS JUST ABOVE. HERE LIES LAKE HARTWELL. IT WAS FULLY FORMED BY A DAM IN 1962. ITS GLISTENING SURFACE IS A WATERY GRAVE FOR FARMS, HOMES, EVEN AN ENTIRE TOWN. THERE’S A LOT OF HISTORY THAT’S UNDERNEATH THAT LAKE, FOR SURE. AND CEMETERY ISLAND. IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG. THE ISLAND USED TO BE PART OF HARRIS PLANTATION FOR MORE THAN 200 YEARS BEFORE THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS BUILT LAKE HARTWELL DAM, THEY WOULD HAVE TO EITHER SELL OR FORFEIT THEIR LAND FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THESE LAKES, AND A LOT OF PEOPLE ELECTED TO SELL THEIR LAND. A LOT OF THEM WAS VOTED TO STAY. THERE’S A VERY FAMOUS STORY OF A WOMAN WHO ACTUALLY THREATENED THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS. YOU KNOW, SURVEYORS AND LAND BUYERS WITH A GUN, WHILE OTHER LANDOWNERS MOVED THEIR BURIAL GROUNDS. THE HARRIS’S HAD THIS HIGH GROUND. THE FAMILY PLOT, MADE UP OF 59, MARKED GRAVES, WITH LESS THAN 20 OF THEM ACTUALLY HAVING STONE MARKERS, WHICH INDICATES TO ME THAT THERE WERE QUITE A LOT OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE BURIED THERE BECAUSE THE HARRIS’S HAD A LARGE PLANTATION, IT WAS SOME OF THE AREA’S ONLY HISTORY TO BE PRESERVED. IT’S MYSTERY INSPIRING. THE NAME GHOST ISLAND. I HAVE HEARD IT MENTIONED, UM, SEVERAL TIMES THAT THERE WAS LEGENDS ABOUT A WITCH THAT WOULD THAT WOULD ROAM AROUND ON THE ISLAND, PEOPLE SEEING SHAPES AND FIGURES AND SHADOWS, THE TIDE DRAWING IN ADVENTURE SEEKERS IS KIND OF COOL. IT’S LIKE REALLY OLD TOO. AND SENDING OUT YOUNG HISTORY BUFFS TO SHARE THE ISLAND’S HISTORY AND MYSTERY. AT LAKE HARTWELL, I’M PEYTON FURTAD
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Ghost Island: A South Carolina lake history and mystery
Updated: 12:39 AM EDT Jun 3, 2024
In South Carolina, a flooded farm, a haunted island, and a cemetery almost lost to time. Lake Hartwell harbors its fair share of legend. Cemetery Island is no exception.The lake was fully filled in 1962, the glistening surface a watery grave for farms, homes, and even an entire town.”There’s, there’s a lot of history that’s underneath that lake for sure,” said Dustin Norris with the Anderson County Museum.And Cemetery Island is just the tip of the iceberg. The island used to be part of the Harris Plantation for more than 200 years before the Army Corps of Engineers built the Lake Hartwell Dam.”They would have to either sell or forfeit their land, for the construction of these lakes,” said Joshua Johnson with the Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina. “And a lot of people elected to sell their land. A lot of them wanted to say, there’s a very famous story of a woman who actually threatened the Corps of Engineers, you know, surveyors and land buyers with a gun.”While other landowners moved their burial grounds, the Harrises had high ground. The family plot has 59 graves.”With less than 20 of them actually having stone markers, which indicates to me,” Johnson said, “that there were quite a lot of enslaved people buried there because the Harris’s had a large plantation.”It was some of the area’s only history preserved above the surface, the cemetery inspiring the name “Ghost Island.””I have heard it mentioned, several times, that there were legends about a witch that would roam around on the island,” said Norris.Johnson added, “People seeing shapes and figures and shadows or hearing voices out there.”The tide regularly draws in adventure seekers and sends out young history buffs to share the island’s history and mystery.
In South Carolina, a flooded farm, a haunted island, and a cemetery almost lost to time. Lake Hartwell harbors its fair share of legend. Cemetery Island is no exception.
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The lake was fully filled in 1962, the glistening surface a watery grave for farms, homes, and even an entire town.
“There’s, there’s a lot of history that’s underneath that lake for sure,” said Dustin Norris with the Anderson County Museum.
And Cemetery Island is just the tip of the iceberg. The island used to be part of the Harris Plantation for more than 200 years before the Army Corps of Engineers built the Lake Hartwell Dam.
“They would have to either sell or forfeit their land, for the construction of these lakes,” said Joshua Johnson with the Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina. “And a lot of people elected to sell their land. A lot of them wanted to say, there’s a very famous story of a woman who actually threatened the Corps of Engineers, you know, surveyors and land buyers with a gun.”
While other landowners moved their burial grounds, the Harrises had high ground. The family plot has 59 graves.
“With less than 20 of them actually having stone markers, which indicates to me,” Johnson said, “that there were quite a lot of enslaved people buried there because the Harris’s had a large plantation.”
It was some of the area’s only history preserved above the surface, the cemetery inspiring the name “Ghost Island.”
“I have heard it mentioned, several times, that there were legends about a witch that would roam around on the island,” said Norris.
Johnson added, “People seeing shapes and figures and shadows or hearing voices out there.”
The tide regularly draws in adventure seekers and sends out young history buffs to share the island’s history and mystery.
