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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 Edisto Beach (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 Edisto Beach. 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 Edisto Beach ...

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 occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Edisto Beach: Edisto Bch.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and 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.

Edisto Beach is located in Colleton County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Colleton County: Allendale, Bamberg, Beaufort, Charleston, Dorchester, Hampton & Orangeburg.

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

  • Colleton County     (The home county of Edisto Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Edisto Beach, with the one closest to Edisto Beach listed first.
    • Jacksonboro
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Green Pond
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • White Hall
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • White Hall is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Hall
    • Ritter
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Ritter is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ritter
    • Drawdy
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Drawdy is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drawdy
  • Beaufort County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Edisto Beach, with the one closest to Edisto Beach listed first.
    • Fripp Island
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Frogmore
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
    • Beaufort
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Sangster Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Sangster Village is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sangster Village
    • Dale
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Polk Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Polk Village is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk Village
    • Port Royal
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Burton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Battery Marina Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Lobeco
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Shell Point
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Shell Point is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Point
    • Seabrook
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Charleston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Edisto Beach, with the one closest to Edisto Beach listed first.
    • Edisto Island
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rockville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Rockville is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 138 people
    • Seabrook Island
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Adams Run
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Kiawah Island
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Wadmalaw Island
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Meggett
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Hollywood
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Ravenel
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Johns Island
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Canady Landing ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Canady Landing is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canady Landing
    • Folly Beach
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Edisto Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Edisto Beach.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Edisto Beach - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Trinity Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Gun Bluff Plantation Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Coffin Point Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Fripp Point Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Big House Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Cedar Grove Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Hampton Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Piedmont Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Scottsville Baptist Church Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Burgess Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Prices Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Cherry Hill Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (70 more) ...
    • Mulberry Hill Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Parker Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Coosaw Island Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)

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.<3>

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

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

  • Frogmore
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
  • Jacksonboro
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Beaufort
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Ashepoo
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ashepoo is located in Colleton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashepoo
  • Dale
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Port Royal
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Green Pond
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • James Island
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • James Island is located in Charleston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James Island
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,226 people
  • White Hall
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • White Hall is located in Colleton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Hall
  • Coosaw
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Coosaw is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosaw
  • Ritter
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Ritter is located in Colleton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ritter
  • Sheldon
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Tomotley
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Tomotley is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomotley

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

Newspapers Published in Edisto Beach ...

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 24 newspapers that have been published in the area around Edisto Beach.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Edisto Beach, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Edisto Beach.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Edisto Beach:

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 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.
<3>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 Edisto Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Edisto Beach) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.