Subject: Re: Martintown From: John C Rigdon Date: May 09, 1998 Martintown was a crossroads community located about 12 miles south of Edgefield and above what is now North Augusta, but at the time, North Augusta did not exist. The town of Hamburg on the Carolina side of the Savannah river gained prominence in the early to mid 1800's and Martintown died. Hamburg is also gone now. Martintown was located above the rapids and Hamburg below. Boats were unloaded at Martintown and wagons made the trip down to Hamburg on a plank road built to allow the heavier bales of cotton, tobacco, and corn whiskey to be transported. Around Augusta, we joke about the fact that none of our major roads go to the places named. Martintown Road goes to Edgefield, Washington Rd goes to Appling, Columbia Rd goes to Athens, The Old Savannah Rd. doesn't go to Savannah - it goes to Waynesboro, and the New Savannah Rd doesn;t go to Savannah either, it also goes to Waynesboro. Finally, there's the Milledgeville road which seems to head in the right direction, but ends at Ft. Gordon, and the Gordon Highway now bypasses Ft. Gordon in favor of the Belaire Rd. which never did go to a town of Belaire. It runs from Evans to Ft. Gordon - Now all that was obvious wasn't it? We do it to confuse the D_yanquiis who show up every year for Masters. Oh, yeah, one other. The Aiken / Augusta Highway is really named the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway. All the street signs say that, and between Aiken and Augusta, it runs through 13 other towns, and communities. It should rightfully be known as the Stieffeltown / Hamburg highway, because that was its' "destinations" when Hamburg connected to Martintown via Martintown Rd. There is a section on The Martins of Martintowne in Chapman's History of Edgefield which I publish (REPRINT) if you want, I can make copies. John Rigdon ==== SCROOTS Mailing List ==== Go To: #, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Main |