When the Fontana Dam was completed in 1944, the newly created lake inundated several communities in Western North Carolina, including the towns of Judson and Almond. This week we take a look at Judson, on the southern side of Lake Fontana.

Here are some of the resources used in this episode;

• Remembering Judson
• A Visit to the Judson of 1943
• Following Wagon Trails - 1890s Almond
• Christopher Columbus Bryson
• Interview with Edna and Try Whiteside
• Oral Histories of Western North Carolina

Fort Madison, Old Madison, and New Madison were located on the Tugaloo River in the western part of Oconee County. Here are some of the links I used in this episode:

• Incorporation of Madison
• Tugaloo Corridor
• Tugaloo Town
• Trip to Long Nose Falls

This week we visit the ghost town of Fort Motte, in Calhoun County, South Carolina. The town takes its name from a British garrison, which was named after the plantation owner, Rebecca Brewton Motte.

Resources:

• On the Road with Charles Kuralt
• Fort Motte - Wikipedia
• Siege of Fort Motte
• Rebecca Motte
• National Register of Historic Places

The next season of Carolina Ghost Towns is about to drop! This season begins on January 6, with new episodes coming out every other Tuesday. Be sure to subscribe and recommend the show to your friends!

I had really hoped to be back on track with ghost towns, but things just haven't worked out. We're still in temporary housing after Hurricane Helene over a year ago. It's been frustrating. I put the podcast on hold because I thought we would be busy moving back in, but it's been one delay after another.

I have done lots of research and I've got a long list of potential episodes, so there's lots more content and places to explore.

Jewish workers in the Socialist Commune of Happyville, Aiken, SC

Happyville was a short-lived agricultural commune near Montmorceni in Aiken County, South Carolina. The community was based on socialist concepts, and was sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, which wanted to bring in Eastern European Jewish immigrants to work the farmland. The project was purely racist, with the intent of replacing "less desirable" black farmworkers with Jewish workers.

The Happyville residents didn't succeed. Unusually harsh weather, inexperience, and racial troubles of their own eventually doomed the colony.

Here are some of the resources used in this podcast:

• Wikipedia Article
• The Sharing Project - Joel Tauber film
• Interview with Rose Rudnick Rubin
• H Is for Happyvile - Walter Edgar

Kingdom of the Happy Land by Gary Carden. Acrylic on canvas, 36”x24”. Source

The Kingdom of Happy Land was a settlement of freed slaves on the North Carolina/South Carolina border near Tuxedo, North Carolina. The Kingdom had a King and Queen, and was operated as a socialistic society with all sharing equally.

Resources:

• Blog Post - Seeking the Kingdom of Happy Land
• Happy Land - Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• Interview with Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• Happy Land Liniment
• Serepta Merritt Davis Grave
• Google Search

Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, was the first town in the United States governed by freed slaves. It was part of the Port Royal Experiment.

Partial list of links:

• Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park
• Archeology at Mitchelville
• Mitchelville: Experiment in Freedom
• The archaeological manifestations of the "Port Royal Experiment" at Mitchelville, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina