Just recently, I discovered that the dam creating Lake Greenwood was built in 1939. Is there a source that lists the property owners whose land was taken for the lake? And were any cemeteries located in the area covered by the lake? Suzanne Collins Matson

At 03:18 PM 10/8/2000 -0400, you wrote: >Just recently, I discovered that the dam creating Lake Greenwood was built in >1939. Is there a source that lists the property owners whose land was taken >for the lake? And were any cemeteries located in the area covered by the >lake? > >Suzanne Collins Matson > > Hi, Susan. This is Ann Wells Massengill, delighted that Greenwood County has gotten a query... or maybe I just haven't gotten any other mail since I joined. The dam at Buzzard's Roost, which is just off S.C Hwy 34 between Ninety Six and Chappells, was very famous for the time it was built. I remember seeing old postcards showing the dam and saying something about "... was the highest dam in the (world?)" at the time. If you can locate the dam and the lake on an Atlas, you will see that the land taken for the long lake came out of both Greenwood and Laurens Counties, with a little thrown in from Newberry County. Therefore, records of land transactions would be in one of those counties. The dam was built to be operated by the old REA (Rural Electrification Administration), which operated as a electric power cooperative. In the late 1960s, the voters sold the REA to Duke Power Company. It is possible that Duke Power may have inherited those records as well. The last time we were home (evacuating last fall from Hurricane Floyd), we noticed substantial growth up around the lake, and I'm sure this is true on all sides. There is a precedent in this state for having land taken for a lake BUT NOT USED returned. This case was played out in nearby McCormick County at Clark's Hill Dam, now known by some as the (what else?) Strom Thurmond Lake and Dam. The families were not, as I recall, compensated for their land nor was unused land returned to them. Depending on how far back your family connection to that area goes, you night check out Margaret Watson's book, titled something like "Highways and By-Ways of Greenwood County", which covers family histories prior to about 1820. Her reproductions of early maps of the entire area are terrific! I'm sure the book is available through inter-Library Loan. I USED to know a little about almost every family in the county and will be glad, if you would send me the specific names you have, to see if I can further direct you. I seriouly doubt that there were any known cemeteries covered by the lake; of course, there could have been some known only through various family archives, but the land is a deep valley along the Saluda River and several large tributaries, which were know to flood, so I can't imagine any one would have knowlingly buried anyone there... but I wouldn't swear to it. My great-grandfather, William Jefferson Wells, was a native of Cross Hill in Laurens County. His family is buried up the hill from the lake on the Laurens County side. Annie