RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Carolina >> Beaufort County >> Riverdale >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
South Carolina

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 Riverdale (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 Riverdale. 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 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.

Riverdale is located in Beaufort 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 Beaufort County: Colleton, Hampton & Jasper.

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

  • Beaufort County     (The home county of Riverdale)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • Shell Point
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shell Point have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Point
      • Shell Point is located in Beaufort County
    • Laurel Bay
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Bay
      • Laurel Bay is located in Beaufort County
    • Battery Marina Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Battery Marina Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Battery Marina Village
      • Battery Marina Village is located in Beaufort County
    • Burton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Port Royal
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Okatie
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Polk Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Polk Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk Village
      • Polk Village is located in Beaufort County
    • Bluffton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Sangster Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sangster Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sangster Village
      • Sangster Village is located in Beaufort County
    • Beaufort
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Seabrook
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Pritchardville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pritchardville
      • Pritchardville is located in Beaufort County
    • Hilton Head Island
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • White Hall
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for White Hall. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Hall
      • White Hall is located in Colleton County
    • Green Pond
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Hampton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • Barkerville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barkerville
      • Barkerville is located in Hampton County
      • Barkerville has also been known as:
      • Haywardville
    • Early Branch
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Garnett
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Furman
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Jasper County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • Ridgeland
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Tillman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Pineland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Chatham County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • Fort Screven
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Screven
      • Fort Screven is located in Chatham County (GA)
    • Port Wentworth
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Wentworth have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Wentworth
      • Port Wentworth is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,812 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Port Wentworth <2>
    • Golden Isles
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Tybee Island
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tybee Island have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tybee Island
      • Tybee Island is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,051 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tybee Island <2>
    • Garden City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Robert M Hitch Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Robert M Hitch Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robert M Hitch Village
      • Robert M Hitch Village is located in Chatham County (GA)
    • Savannah
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savannah
      • Savannah is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143,632 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Savannah <2>
    • Carver Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carver Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carver Village
      • Carver Village is located in Chatham County (GA)
    • Chatham City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chatham City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chatham City
      • Chatham City is located in Chatham County (GA)
    • Isle of Armstrong
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Isle of Armstrong have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isle of Armstrong
      • Isle of Armstrong is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 2,402 people
    • Port Wentworth Junction
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Wentworth Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Wentworth Junction
      • Port Wentworth Junction is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Estimated population in 2019: 9,641 people
    • Rossignol Hill
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rossignol Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossignol Hill
      • Rossignol Hill is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Estimated population in 2019: 4,009 people
    • Thunderbolt
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thunderbolt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thunderbolt
      • Thunderbolt is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,601 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Thunderbolt <2>
  • Effingham County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • Haddonville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haddonville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haddonville
      • Haddonville is located in Effingham County (GA)
      • Estimated population in 2019: 965 people
    • Rincon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rincon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rincon
      • Rincon is located in Effingham County (GA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,655 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rincon <2>
    • Exley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Exley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exley
      • Exley is located in Effingham County (GA)
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 2,894 people
    • Two Sisters Ferry
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Two Sisters Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Sisters Ferry
      • Two Sisters Ferry is located in Effingham County (GA)
      • Estimated population in 2019: 3,063 people
    • Clyo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Springfield
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Riverdale ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Riverdale.

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

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

  • Fripp Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fripp Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fripp Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Shell Point Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shell Point Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shell Point Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Habersham Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Habersham Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Habersham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wrightfield Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wrightfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wrightfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jaxville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jaxville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jaxville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jericho Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jericho Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jericho Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Laurel Bay Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Laurel Bay Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Laurel Bay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Preference Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Preference Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Preference Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salvesbarg Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salvesbarg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salvesbarg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Partridge Hill Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Partridge Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Partridge Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Port Royal Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Port Royal Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Port Royal Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Fort Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Fort Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Fort Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (134 more) ...
    • Beaufort Memorial Gardens
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Rose Hill Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rose Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rose Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Berton Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Berton Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Berton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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.<4>

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

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

  • Okatie
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Port Royal
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Bluffton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Beaufort
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Pritchardville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pritchardville
    • Pritchardville is located in Beaufort County
  • Ridgeland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Hilton Head Island
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Coosaw
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coosaw have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosaw
    • Coosaw is located in Beaufort County
  • Hardeeville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Frogmore
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frogmore have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
    • Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
  • Dale
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Sheldon
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Tillman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Tomotley
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tomotley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomotley
      • Tomotley is located in Beaufort County
    • Yemassee
      (22 miles [35.4 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 Riverdale. See our List of 1890's Communities around Riverdale.

Newspapers Published in Riverdale ...

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 30 newspapers that have been published in the area around Riverdale.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Riverdale, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Riverdale.

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 helpful 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 Riverdale:

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

The official website for Beaufort County: www.co.beaufort.sc.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>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 Riverdale, 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' (or 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- Riverdale) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Riverdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.3752, Longitude: -80.8396       In this case, the coordinates for Riverdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 30 Mar 2025