WHITESTONE
Whitestone is a community near Camp
Croft and is on Southport Road. As
early as 1780 there was an established Post Office. The area was rich and fertile for farming, especially for
cotton. It was also called Rich Hill.
Whitestone had a tavern or inn at this time
and people coming from Washington or New York stopped there on their way to
Charleston. President George Washington
spent the night at the Bates Inn in 1789, where a party was given for him.
(Nell Jones Hodge, Personal Notes, 1964)
The people in Whitestone were patriots
during the Revolutionary War. Many
soldiers from this area served in the War Between the States.
About the year 1896, a huge hotel was built
at Whitestone Lithia Springs. Many
people came here to vacation and to drink the water for medicinal
purposes. This water was shipped all
over the United States.
A one-room school was used prior to
1912. There was also a black school
nearby. The white school was on the
site of the present post office and the black school was across the road where
the chemical company is now.
In 1912, a
beautiful, two story brick building was built.
This building is still there and is used by the community. This school was used until about 1952 when
it was consolidated with Pacolet. The
black school was used as late as 1949.
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Sources: Photographs by Julie B.