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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Bears Bluff (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Bears Bluff. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Bears Bluff ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

  • A typical abbreviation for Bears Bluff: Bears Blf. (or less commonly used: Bears Bluf.)
  • While the name of this community is Bears Bluff, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Bears Bluff may originally have been Bear's Bluff.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Bears Bluff might be written as Bear Bluff.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Bears Bluff is located in Charleston County.

To see how the shape of South Carolina's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Charleston County: Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester & Georgetown.

Below are the counties that are near Bears Bluff. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Bears Bluff:

  • Charleston County     (The home county of Bears Bluff)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bears Bluff, with the one closest to Bears Bluff listed first.
    • Rockville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
      • Rockville is located in Charleston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 138 people
    • Wadmalaw Island
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Meggett
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Edisto Island
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hollywood
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Adams Run
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Seabrook Island
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Kiawah Island
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Ravenel
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Johns Island
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Canady Landing ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canady Landing
      • Canady Landing is located in Charleston County
    • Essex Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Essex Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Essex Village
      • Essex Village is located in Charleston County
  • Beaufort County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bears Bluff, with the one closest to Bears Bluff listed first.
    • Fripp Island
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Beaufort
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Sangster Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sangster Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sangster Village
      • Sangster Village is located in Beaufort County
    • Polk Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Polk Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk Village
      • Polk Village is located in Beaufort County
    • Lobeco
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Burton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Berkeley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bears Bluff, with the one closest to Bears Bluff listed first.
    • Ladson
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Hanahan
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Caromi Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Caromi Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caromi Village
      • Caromi Village is located in Berkeley County
    • Camelot Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Camelot Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot Village
      • Camelot Village is located in Berkeley County
    • Goose Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Highland Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Highland Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Village
      • Highland Village is located in Berkeley County
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bears Bluff, with the one closest to Bears Bluff listed first.
    • Edisto Beach
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edisto Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edisto Beach
      • Edisto Beach is located in Colleton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • Jacksonboro
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Pond
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Cottageville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Ritter
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ritter have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ritter
      • Ritter is located in Colleton County
    • Round O
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Drigger Crossroads
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drigger Crossroads
      • Drigger Crossroads is located in Colleton County
    • Walterboro
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sidney
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sidney have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sidney
      • Sidney is located in Colleton County
  • Dorchester County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bears Bluff, with the one closest to Bears Bluff listed first.
    • Chandler Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chandler Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chandler Village
      • Chandler Village is located in Dorchester County
    • Flowertown Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flowertown Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowertown Village
      • Flowertown Village is located in Dorchester County
    • Brownsville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
      • Brownsville is located in Dorchester County
    • Summerville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Bears Bluff, see our County-by-County Page for Bears Bluff.

Newspapers Published in Bears Bluff ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 3 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bears Bluff.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bears Bluff, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bears Bluff.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Bears Bluff:

Cemeteries Near Bears Bluff ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bears Bluff.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Bears Bluff covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bears Bluff, with the one closest to Bears Bluff listed first.

  • Trinity Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
  • Parker Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Parker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Parker Cemetery
  • Gun Bluff Plantation Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Gun Bluff Plantation Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • The Gun Bluff Plantation Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Whitemarsh Seabrook Plantation Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gun Bluff Plantation Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2308181 <6>
  • Prices Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prices Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prices Cemetery
  • Chaplin Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chaplin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chaplin Cemetery
  • Adams Run Baptist Church Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Bethlehem Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethlehem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethlehem Cemetery
  • Tomb of Colonel William Washington
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tomb of Colonel William Washington have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tomb of Colonel William Washington
  • Hughes Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hughes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hughes Cemetery
  • White Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Cemetery
  • Community Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Community Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Community Cemetery
  • Hopewell Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hopewell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hopewell Cemetery
  • Continue List   (101 more) ...
    • Buzzard Roost Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Buzzard Roost Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buzzard Roost Cemetery
    • Live Oak Memorial Gardens
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Haynes Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Haynes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Haynes Cemetery

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<7>

While we didn't find Bears Bluff in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bears Bluff.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Bears Bluff, with the one closest to Bears Bluff listed first.

  • Jacksonboro
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • James Island
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James Island
    • James Island is located in Charleston County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,226 people
  • Ashepoo
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ashepoo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashepoo
    • Ashepoo is located in Colleton County
  • Charleston
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Green Pond
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Belvedere
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belvedere have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belvedere
    • Belvedere is located in Berkeley County
  • Cottageville
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Ladson
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Ritter
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ritter have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ritter
    • Ritter is located in Colleton County
  • Frogmore
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frogmore have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
    • Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
  • Otranto
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Otranto have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otranto
    • Otranto is located in Charleston County
  • Drawdy
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Drawdy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drawdy
    • Drawdy is located in Colleton County
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • White Hall
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White Hall have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Hall
      • White Hall is located in Colleton County
    • Dale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Summerville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Bears Bluff. See our List of 1890's Communities around Bears Bluff.

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Bears Bluff. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Charleston County: www.charlestoncounty.org/

The official website for State of South Carolina: https://sc.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Bears Bluff) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bears Bluff. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.6449, Longitude: -80.2537       In this case, the coordinates for Bears Bluff have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<7>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Bears Bluff, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024