page 2

There are many descendents of John Powell living at Lake Waccamaw and in Columbus County.

John Turner was another newcomer to the area in the mid 1700's. He received a grant to the lands west of Lake Waccamaw on December 7, 1767. Twenty years later, a relative, Thomas Turner, was the recipient of a land grant to property on the north side of the Lake. Few transactions and grants were recorded for over 50 years until 1846.

In that year, Josiah Maultsby received a grant for the land east of Thomas Turner's property. Six years later, Maultsby had mapped his grant showing streets, thirty lots, a commons and a public square. He called his newly planned village Flemington, and on the 13th of November 1852, he deeded some of his lots to various parties.

Flemington grew slowly. The coming of the Wilmington -Manchester railroad had some effect on the settlement, especially in the summer when It was learned that a wonderful body of water existed here. However, with the sudden boom in naval stores and turpentine, the village began to grow. By 1869 Flemington had a post office and a hotel.

On January 26, 1869, Charles Oscar Beers recorded in his diary the beginning of his shingle industry along the southern shore of Lake Waccamaw. Another Shingle operation was begun south of the lake by Henry Bascom Short just after Beers started his company. These two eventually merged their operations in 1879 with a work crew of over 400. This new company formed by Short and Beers would eventually grow from the production of shingles to become the North Carolina Lumber Company.

In 1890 Flemington had grown to a population of 50 and became known as Lake Waccamaw. It incorporated in 1911. Short and Beers had acquired title to the Maultsby property north of the Lake. The land that on Maultsby's map, had been assigned to a public square and commons was part of this tract. Since there was no incorporated Flemington and Flemington was only the name of a location, no formal action was taken by anyone to accept Mr. Maultsby's offer to dedicate for public use the square and commons. By 1894 all legal rights to the square, streets, and commons proposed by Maultsby went to Short and Beers.

By now roads had been cut through the woods on the north side of the Lake. Some provided access south from the east - west rail line to the lake. Some roughly paralleled the lake shore, leaving a thick mesh of cypress and pine through which one glimpsed the lake. There are records of five general stores at Lake Waccamaw in 1890 an active lumbering business, schools, and two churches, one of which used the lake for baptisms.

The train played an important role for the town in the daily life of the town. In fact, arrival of the eastbound "noon" train and westbound "afternoon" train each day were the big events of the day and always attracted a crowd of onlookers.

The Flemington Hotel was listed in the 1890 directory as a boarding house and was operated from then on by Mrs. M.C. Carroll, called Miss Lizzie. Twice a day trains halted long enough for passengers to refresh themselves at Miss Lizzie's and for the train to take on water at the depot. The hotel-boarding house stood close by the tracks, right in the path of what is now U.S. Highway 74 - 76, Porches along both floors of the building looked out toward the lake. The story is told that all was hustle in Miss Lizzie's kitchen when the early morning and late afternoon train whistles blew. Help scurried about preparing meals for an unknown number of hungry train passengers. Miss Lizzie is said to have kept a parrot in a cage in the dining room. Polly became familiar to passengers who rode the route often. With the hurrying about and the sound of the whistle Polly would loudly squawk. "Good Lord Miss Lizzie, the train's a-coming".

Next Page     1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5