The Yorkville Enquirer reported on June 25, 1885 – “Steam boats are now running regularly between Camden and Charleston carrying freight from all points along the route.”
The Rock Hill Herald reported on Aug. 11, 1887 – “Mr. A.R. Smith of Camden, was in Rock Hill last week and while here received a telegram informing him that the Wateree River has overflowed his plantation, submerging 105 acres of corn, 110 of cotton, and three crops of his tenants.”
Kershaw Co. Directories and History: “The most important crossing of the Wateree River proper, along its meandering course of some sixty miles, was that at Camden. Its history, often repeated as to other crossings, is first a ferry, later a bridge, then a destructive freshet, then the resumption of use of the ferry. Through the years the location of this crossing was twice changed, in each instance to a site farther upstream. As early as 1708 Old Mixon, in his British in America refers to the ‘Watery River.” Juan Pardo, John Lederer, and John Lawson had noted it even earlier.”
Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC
The Rock Hill Herald reported on Feb. 17,1881 – “A committee has been appointed by the citizens of Camden to raise money for building the Wateree Bridge and to develop estimates for the cost of the structure.”
This is a collection of wonderful images from the turn of the century when the Wateree River was a major obstacle for individuals moving from Camden to Winnsboro and Columbia. The major route across the river led down Peay’s Ferry Road through Ridgeway and on to Winnsboro, S.C.
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“A change was ordered to the Camden ferry over the Wateree on November 7, 1794, following the petition of James Kershaw “that the present Landing on the Southside of Camden Ferry is not so proper as if changed to about 300 yards lower down the River.” The legislature approved, therefore, for commissioners “to fix on a place more proper than the present for a landing, and also for laying out the road there from the nearest & Most convenient way to cross Wrights branch.”39 The movement may have been prompted by changes in the river or its banks, or by related transportation links.” (Information courtesy of A History of Kershaw County, S.C. by Joan A. Inabinet and L. Glenn Inabinet, 2001 – The Un. of S.C. Press)
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