Existing comment:
1783 - c. 1850
The Lost Town of Cambridge
After the Revolution, the American government confiscated land that belonged to prominent Loyalists. You are standing on such a tract, and it became the site of a new town of Ninety Six in 1783. The old town, near the Star Fort -- never rebounded from its occupation by the Loyalists, who left the village in ruins after the siege of 1781.
In 1785 the state legislature voted to establish a "College of Cambridge" here, and in 1787 the town was officially renamed Cambridge. But by the early 1800s Cambridge was already beginning to decline. In 1806, one resident described the village as "nothing more than a snug little village of 15 or 20 houses and stores on top of a small hill...The Village has seven stores and three taverns...Its appearance is not all flourishing." About 200 people lived in the town. By about 1850 it had almost disappeared, and today there is no visible trace of a town.
Why did Cambridge disappear? There were several factors. In 1800 the judicial seat was moved to Abbeville, and when railroads came to this region in the 1850s, Cambridge was not on the main line. The closest depot was two miles north, and the modern town of Ninety Six grew along this section of track, which connected the cities of Columbia and Greenville. Isolated, residents moved away from Cambridge. The courthouse was razed in 1856, and the post office closed in 1860. The only attraction left standing was the Star Fort from the Revolutionary War era. |