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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 Orleans Woods (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 Orleans Woods. 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 Orleans Woods ...

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.

While the name of this community is Orleans Woods, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Orleans Woods may originally have been Orlean's Woods.

Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Orleans Woods might be written as Orlean Woods.

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.

Orleans Woods is located in Charleston 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 Charleston County: Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester & Georgetown.

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

  • Charleston County     (The home county of Orleans Woods)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orleans Woods, with the one closest to Orleans Woods listed first.
    • Essex Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Essex Village is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Essex Village
    • Old Town
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Old Town is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • Grove Creek Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Grove Creek Village is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Creek Village
    • Charles Towne Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Charles Towne Village is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charles Towne Village
    • Charleston
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • North Charleston
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Dorchester
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Dorchester is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorchester
    • James Island
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • James Island is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James Island
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,226 people
    • Johns Island
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • The Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • The Village is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Village
    • Mount Pleasant
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Folly Beach
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Berkeley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orleans Woods, with the one closest to Orleans Woods listed first.
    • Hanahan
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Camelot Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Camelot Village is located in Berkeley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot Village
    • Goose Creek
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Ladson
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Caromi Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Caromi Village is located in Berkeley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caromi Village
    • Wando
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Mount Holly
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Mount Holly is located in Berkeley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Holly
    • Highland Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Highland Village is located in Berkeley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Village
    • Tarry Town
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Tarry Town is located in Berkeley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarry Town
    • Washington Town
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Washington Town is located in Berkeley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washington Town
    • Huger
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Cordesville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orleans Woods, with the one closest to Orleans Woods listed first.
    • Jacksonboro
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Edisto Beach
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Edisto Beach is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edisto Beach
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • Cottageville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Dorchester County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orleans Woods, with the one closest to Orleans Woods listed first.
    • Chandler Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Chandler Village is located in Dorchester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chandler Village
    • Flowertown Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Flowertown Village is located in Dorchester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowertown Village
    • Summerville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Brownsville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Brownsville is located in Dorchester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
    • Ridgeville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Orleans Woods ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Orleans Woods.

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 Orleans Woods - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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.<4>

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

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

  • Charleston
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • James Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • James Island is located in Charleston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James Island
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,226 people
  • Belvedere
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Belvedere is located in Berkeley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belvedere
  • Mount Pleasant
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Otranto
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Otranto is located in Charleston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otranto
  • Ladson
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Wando
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Mount Holly
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Mount Holly is located in Berkeley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Holly
  • Summerville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Strawberry
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Strawberry is located in Berkeley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
  • Huger
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Long Ridge
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Long Ridge is located in Berkeley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Ridge
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Jacksonboro
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Ridgeville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Moncks Corner
      (27 miles [43.5 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 Orleans Woods. See our List of 1890's Communities around Orleans Woods.

Newspapers Published in Orleans Woods ...

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 214 newspapers that have been published in the area around Orleans Woods.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Orleans Woods, there are papers which were published within 6 miles [9.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Orleans Woods.

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 Orleans Woods:

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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 Orleans Woods, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Orleans Woods) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.