City Directories and History: Providence Presbyterian Church was located in Lowndesville, 25 yards off S.C. Hwy. 82. It dated from May 1842, and its first settled pastor, the Rev. John D. Wilson, served it from 1842 to 1861. Carlton learned from Jim Baker’s manuscript history of early Lowndesville that before 1842 there were two small Presbyterian churches some 4 miles distant from Lowndesville, Providence to the north and New Harmony to the south. They were united under the former name and moved to town.
In 1939, the original stove which was placed in the church in 1842 was still in use. The church was a rectangular frame building (34′ by 52′) which was remodeled in 1886 when the “slave gallery” was taken out and a bell tower added. There were 80 charter members, and in 1939 there were 55 members, and the Rev. Doty of Calhoun Falls was the pastor (he had served since 1931). (Ben Carlton’s 1939 WPA Sketches & Notes, compiled by Lowry Ware)
The Harpers Ferry Drowning (April 4, 1920)
The Providence Cemetery is home to a mass grave that contains the bodies that drowned at nearby Harpers Ferry on Easter Day 1920. The following article tells the story.
Automobile Party Drowned In Savannah River When Ferry Boat Capsized – McCormick, April 5, 1920
While on a pleasure trip yesterday afternoon traveling in two automobiles and crossing Savannah River at Harpers’ Ferry, six miles west of Lowndesville, 10 out of 11 persons in the party were drowned in the waters of the Savannah River.
The young people were on their way from South Carolina to Elbert County, Georgia, and had started across Savannah River on the flat. The post holding the cable by which the flat was operated gave way and the flat drifted down the river until it struck a rock and capsized. Those reported drowned are:
- Albert Sutherland, about 18 years old
- Miss Alice Meschine, about 15 years of age, and her brother, Charlie Maschine, about 19 years old
- Lester Waters and his wife, young couple who had married only six weeks ago
- Ineiz Manning, aged 9, and her sister, Miss Annie Manning, 16 years of age and their brother, Robert Manning, age 22
- Miss Allie Bradshaw, aged 18, and her sister, Miss Lucy Bradshaw, aged’ 15.
The only person in the party who was saved was Thomas Bradshaw, a brother of Misses Allie Bradshaw; and Lucy Bradshaw.
It is thought that the high waters of the Savannah River and the strong current rushing against the flat loaded with the party and two automobiles in which they were traveling, caused the cable post to give way. All of the drowned are from prominent families residing in and around the town of Lowndesville, Abbeville County, and as soon as the matter was reported the whole country turned into a searching party trying to recover the bodies of the drowned. On account of the swollen river none of the bodies had been recovered late this afternoon.
The tragedy has caused a gloom over the entire community. (“Easter Sunday Tragedy”, Sumter Watchman and Southron, April 10, 1920)
Additional Links
Lowndesville, located about four miles south of the Abbeville-Anderson County line, just west of Rocky River, was chartered December 21, 1839, and re-chartered February 20, 1897.1
The name is most probably derived from the Lowndes family, long prominent in lower South Carolina. It is primarily the center of a farming community.
(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
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