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The Commemorative Quarter for South Carolina





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 Dorchester (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 Dorchester. 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.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Dorchester is located in Dorchester 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 Dorchester County: Bamberg, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton & Orangeburg.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Dorchester ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dorchester.

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 Dorchester covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Limestone Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Limestone Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Limestone Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dorchester Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dorchester Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dorchester Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cummings Chapel Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cummings Chapel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cummings Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bonnerest Garden Of The Resurrection Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Mims Lake Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mims Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mims Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Harleyville Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harleyville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harleyville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rumph Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rumph Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rumph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ferguson Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ferguson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ferguson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Muckenfuss Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Muckenfuss Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Muckenfuss Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Johnson Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cypress Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cypress Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cypress Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (237 more) ...
    • Mt. Zion Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Zion Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Zion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Givhans Ferry Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Givhans Ferry Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Givhans Ferry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Springhill Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Springhill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Springhill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<5>

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

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

  • Ridgeville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Harleyville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Sandridge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sandridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandridge
    • Sandridge is located in Berkeley County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Sandridge
    • From Dorchester to Sandridge
  • Holly Hill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Long Ridge
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Ridge
    • Long Ridge is located in Berkeley County
  • Cottageville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Connors ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Connors have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Connors
    • Connors is located in Orangeburg County
  • Summerville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Reevesville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Wells
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Ladson
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Dantzler
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dantzler have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dantzler
    • Dantzler is located in Orangeburg County
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Vance
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Strawberry
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Strawberry have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
      • Strawberry is located in Berkeley County
    • Fifty Eight ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fifty Eight have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fifty Eight
      • Fifty Eight is located in Orangeburg County

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

Newspapers Published in Dorchester ...

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 12 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dorchester.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dorchester, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dorchester.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Dorchester:

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

The official website for Dorchester County: www.dorchestercounty.net/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>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.
<4>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.
<5>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 Dorchester, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Dorchester) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Dorchester. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.1388, Longitude: -80.3954    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 22 Apr 2025