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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 Summerville (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 Summerville. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 south 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.

Summerville is primarily located in Dorchester County. A portion of Summerville extends into Berkeley County and 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 Dorchester County: Bamberg, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton & Orangeburg.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Summerville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Summerville.

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

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

  • St. Pauls Episcopal Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Boone Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boone Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Boone Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Summerville Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Ridge Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salem Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salters Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salters Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cherry Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cherry Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cherry Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Huff Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Huff Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Huff Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pear Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pear Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pear Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jedburg Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jedburg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jedburg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Murray Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Murray Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Murray Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Hope Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Hope Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (221 more) ...
    • Cooke Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cooke Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cooke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Williams Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Williams Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Williams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Droze Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Summerville had a population of 2,219 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Summerville had a population of 53,301 people.

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

  • Ladson
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Mount Holly
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Holly have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Holly
    • Mount Holly is located in Berkeley County
  • Otranto
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Otranto. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otranto
    • Otranto is located in Charleston County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Otranto
    • From Summerville to Otranto
  • Long Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Ridge
    • Long Ridge is located in Berkeley County
  • Strawberry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Strawberry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
    • Strawberry is located in Berkeley County
  • Ridgeville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Belvedere
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belvedere have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belvedere
    • Belvedere is located in Berkeley County
  • Moncks Corner
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Sandridge
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • 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 Summerville to Sandridge
  • Cottageville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Charleston
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Wando
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Summerville ...

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 8 newspapers that have been published in the area around Summerville.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Summerville. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Summerville and those printed in the larger area surrounding Summerville.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<6> of Summerville.

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 Summerville:

The official website for Summerville: www.summerville.sc.us/

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

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>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 Summerville, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Summerville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Summerville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.0264, Longitude: -80.1703    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 22 Apr 2025