The original town of Lone Star in Calhoun County is just about gone. A few homes, a couple of brick buildings, and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad freight station are all that remain.
The four buildings pictured below sit quietly now in what was once a thriving railroad community. The Atlantic Coast Line station, a general store, and two gas stations served the people who lived and worked here. Railroad tracks still go by, but trains pass through without stopping now.
The post office and other buildings were restored and moved to Santee on the site of the Lone Star BBQ & Mercantile. Today, Lone Star is an unincorporated part of Calhoun County.
Reflections on Lone Star
Woody Dent, a resident of the surrounding area shares the following images and information, he describes the area before the buildings were relocated to Lone Star BBQ nearby: “Zeagler Country Store and Post office in Lone Star, Calhoun County. I think it was one of the last country store combination Post Office to operate in SC. See flag flying on right front corner of store. The car beside the store was the postmaster Mr. and Mrs. O.K. Zeagler’s car.”
“My daughter used to go there often with Mr. Zeagler’s grand daughter. Mr Zeagler’s daughter is our friend, she is the same age, 66. The movie Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken released by Disney was filmed at their store, and other places in the community.”
More Pictures of Lone Star
I remember the country store; my grandparents took me there when was young, I’m now 62. This was the closest community to purchase dry goods, stamps, gas and mail packages without going to St.Matthews. Lone Star is the beginning for me and the end the family cemetery is right across the railroad track there my ancestors lie. You know, the last I visited Lone Star was when I laid my dad to rest 2 years ago. I can still sense the past when this town was full of life. And hear that whistle blow!
In 1992 I was completing a photojournalist course at USC in Columbia. While I was out exploring one day I wandered into Lone Star and was immediately charmed. I had to complete a photo essay for a final project in my class, and so I returned a few days or so later and shot some great photos of the general store, the post office and the Masonic hall, and chatted at length with the postmistress and her husband and the proprietor of general store about the town and its uncertain future. I’m sorry to say I’ve forgotten their names, but from some other photos I’ve seen online I wonder if the couple at the post office may have been the Zeaglers. At the time the town looked a lot like the images on this site that show Lone Star in the 1980s. Sadly my photos went missing several years ago. I hope to find them again one day. Anyway, I was in the area a few days ago for the first time since then, and although I wanted to go see Lone Star again I was afraid I would be disappointed. Then I found this site and these great photos, and now I wish I’d gone. Even though South Carolina is not my home (I’m a New Englander) I’m happy to see people are interested in preserving the memory and heritage of a great little town.
I am proud to say that my Mom was born M. Haynes in Lone Star. My grandfather’s (Symes Haynes) family owned and ran Haynes Chapel. I will be looking for photos to share. If anyone has additional info please email me at pdsmith8@msn.com.
Does any one know what organization, association, club, etc. holds the official history of Lone Star?
My mother was born here in 1922. Thank you for the pictures!
The Haynes Chapel AME Church was located in the city of Lone Star – it was the only church located in downtown Lone Star. Looking for a picture of the Old Haynes Chapel AME Church, Lone Star. You can contact me at effson@bellsouth.net.
We have yet to see a photo of the old church either but there is a historic record from the USC archive located here: http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/hrs/id/3557.
All I will say right now is that I would like to purchase most of the property in Lone Star and rebuild the town. However, this is still in the thinking stage.
We would absolutely love to see that sleepy town revitalized! Lots of fascinating history you can feel just by visiting.
My daughter and I took a road trip last year. I told her the same thing. How I would love to get what’s left restored and life to come back to this town. I don’t think we have a connection to this town. I would’ve loved to see what it was like in its heyday
I would love to see a revitalization of the small town of Lone Star. A grant should be written. Renovate the older building and turn them into shops, restaurants. There is a small town in Texas that was revitalized by creating free housing for artists. That town in Texas is now a thriving, interesting, creative productive place to live, it attracts a lot of potential residents and tourists.
I am Robin Carrabotta’s cousin. My mother was Emily Irene Zeagler. My grandparents, Corbet and Julia are buried in the Pine Grove Lutheran Church cemetery. I now live out of State and don’t get to visit their graves. I always loved this little town and riding around with my mother and grandmother as they recalled memories of their years there. My mother went to school in Cameron and had the name Gus Gus. I think I remember her saying she graduated with a class of about 8! When she moved to Columbia to attend college my grandparents moved with her. They all moved away but never forgot their home place.
Hi Queen,
I know Josephine McFadden quite well. I just saw her and Sue at the Good Hope picnic this past August. Please tell everyone I said hi. Thanks for the response.
Hi OmarI know Betty Bodrick and Frank Bodrick. I also know Harry Lee Pitts and Bessie Pitts. Are you related to any of these people?
Yes, they are my family.
I am trying to locate any family member of the Marton family originally from Lone Star South Carolina. My Aunt Laura MARTON ROBINSON was buried @ Haynes Chapel in 1965. If anyone has any connection or has knowledge of this family please. I would appreciate hearing from you.
I was born and raised in Lone Star. My grandfather and father ran the Zeagler store and post office. There are so many good memories.
i believe you are my cousin on my grandma side, her name was Queenie esther bodrick. i've spoken to my aunt who live in lone star now and she just told me that her uncle move to Va his name was Camel bodrick. and i see youre friends with
Harrison L. Bodrick Sr. and all my cousins that are bodricks is his Cousins also
My grandmother is originally from Lone Star and I was told that my grandmother still has family there. Her name is Geraldine Bodrick Booker, so if we still do have family there I would like to know them. I have a void in me because I don’t know where I come from.
Hello Jermaine…Every year in August there is a picnic in the Lone Star community. Lots of Bodricks attend.
August 1, 2015, ST. Luke AME Church held the first annual Kool-Aid, Sugar, Mustard and Onions Estravaganza. This will be an annual event. Come and join the fun.
my gg grandfather was Samuel Brown, my grandfather was James Brown who married Alice Kennedy in Lone Star. His sister Carrey married Holland Irick.
IF you can check this out also- The Fort Motte Community Festival Reunion
July 4, 2015, the Irick Family is going back home to Lone Star, South Carolina. Please come join us!!
I was born in Lonestar in 1952. My family moved to Elloree in 1956. Frank and Carrie Braxton. If you remember them, please let me know. Tom Braxton
Timothy Wadford in phone book shows a Cameron address.
Queen Ester Mcfadden, it was good to see your comment. We know each other. You know me as Josephine Bethea. Please email me at cfdjhydrick@columbiasc.net. Queen, we went to Saint John High School together and were childhood friends. I always wondered what happened to you. Please contact me.
I’m trying to find out about my grandmother’s family from Lone Star. I don’t know much, but my grandmother’s mother’s was name Catherine King. If anyone has ever heard anything about the King family in Lone Star, I would love to know about them. Trying to find my family.
The Zeagler Family of Lone Star – One of my aunts was Mary or Maybelle (Moore) Whitmore Zeagler. She had a sister, Annie, who also had children in the Zeagler family. According to their death certificates they are buried at the Weeks Cemetery in Lone Star. Mary married a Robert Zeagler from Lone Star who died on the Ticonderoga, which was a ship that went down in WWI. Aunt Mary live in Kingville, which is “over the river” in Richland County with cousin Saxby Joyner. When she got ill she move to Columbia with her brother Charlie Moore (Sarah’s father). When she died she was buried Lybrand Cemetery. They did not have any children, but she was fond of her in-laws, the Zeaglers, and someone else by the name of Mae Waltz, who was related to the Zeaglers but I think lived in St. Matthews. Mary Zeagler did help to raise several cousins who were orphaned. One of the Zeaglers ended up with Aunt Mary’s photo album but was nice enough to give it to my cousin, Sarah Branham. She copied several of the photos for me before she died. One is of my great, great grandparents! Thanks!
To anyone who lived in Lone Star in the late 50s, I am looking for Navy man who was from Lone Star, S.C. His name was Timothy Watford. Anyone who may know of him, please email me. Thank you. Milton Guest
For those wanting information, a good place to start is to visit the churches in Lone Star on Sundays. To my surprise, many of the people who left the town never left the churches. Also, many of these church members are over 55, and they are packing a lot of history. Try talking to the pastors of these churches and see if an informal interview can be set up with the older members. I am sure everyone of them has a story to tell. Good luck.
I hear the name Lone Star announced on the Gospel radio a few times, and that name just stuck in my mine. I had to find out where this place was located. The station also announced a church name where services was going to be. I would like to know how old this town is.
My names is Jackie Whitmore. I have been long trying to find out information about my family and connections to Lone Star.
I have two sides to my story at Lone Star. My great, great-grandparents moved from Kingsville to Lone Star. They were George “Malley” Whitmore and Mary Jane Joyner Whitmore. According to death certificates, they, along with several of their children, are buried at the Weeks Cemetery in Lone Star. No one can tell me where this is located.
They had several children. One daughter, Mary Whitmore, married Robert Zeigler. He died in WWI when his ship went down. The Ticonderoga? One brother, Charlie, changed his name from Whitmore to Moore, lived in Columbia and had a big family and worked for the railroad. Melton Whitmore and George Willard Whitmore stayed around Lone Star. GW, or Joel, as he was known, lived in Lone Star and evidently died there. He was married, but I think his wife died early. Melton was in WWI and married Willie. He died in Columbia, but was buried in Charlotte, NC. There was also Taber Whitmore. He lived to adulthood but sort of vanished.
Robert Mackie Whitmore was my great-grandfather. He lived and died in Fort Motte and had a big family. His son Robert was my mother’s father.
I am not clear on all of the connections in Lone Star, but I know of the names Weeks, Wingard, Zeigler, Carson and Wiles.
My grandmother, who married Robert Whitmore, and her grandfather’s family were from Lone Star (Good Hope Plantation). There were the Andersons, Caldwells, Currys, Esaws, Sabbs, Motons, Bartleys, Wrenns, Butlers, Harts, Heatleys, Jenkins, Wolfes, Fludds, Whaleys, and several other family connections. Good Hope was the largest plantation on that part of the county and was owned my the Heatley- Dulles family. I have found that many of my people are buried at the Old Jefferson Cemetery in Lone Star, but no one seems to know where that is located. Maybe now it has another name.
I, too, am a proud descendant of the Lone Star Commmunity! Still a great little community to visit!
My great grandmother, Fanny Carson, lived just down the road from Lone Star. We still hold the Carson-Jones family reunion dinner on the second Sunday after Easter there in the Pine Grove Church Hall.
Anyone know how Lone Star got its name? I’ve never thought to ask, until an online friend asked me today.
I was born in Lone Star also. My oldest sister is name after you, so the story told. My grandfather worked for the Zeagler family and my mother name my sister Sylvia Diane. Hener McFadden was my grandfather and lived in a little green block house.
Thank you so much for the replies ! I am 57 years old and remember my grandmother’s house. All very pleasant memories.
I am trying to find people 77 years old and up that remember the Zeagler family. John Corbitt and his wife Julia. The children are Connie and Emily. Connie is the older one. When my mother was around 10 years old, one of her playmates told her that she had been adopted. Is there anyone that perhaps played with these little girls? I wish to find Connie’s natural parents for awhile now. Maybe there are children that overheard the the grown-ups talking. They had a horse and chickens and dogs. I guess everyone during those times had animals/pets. I hope that someone reads this that knows. Thanks, guys!
Is Lone Star for sale? Could it be purchased?
I too grew up in Lone Star and had a wonderful happy childhood. My grandfather, O.K. Zeagler, was postmaster and ran a general store. Going to the store, having a snack, roaming around the dark recesses of that building was a lot of fun for my sisters and me. With the death of my mother, we have not visited as much as previously but when we are there, we just have a great time!
Thank you for taking these pictures and preserving Lone Star.
I do remember Mr. Corbit. My family ran the post office and a general store. Two of the buildings down in Santee were bought from my mom, Mary Zeagler.
Lone Star was a huge part of our lives. My grandaddy O.K. Zeagler was post master and my father and mother help run the store.
Does anyone remember the Zeaglers? John Corbit and Julia were my grandparents. He was a mail carrier despite having only one leg and Julia stayed at home taking care of two daughters. I would love to hear more about them in their younger years. Thank you.
I was born and raised in Lone Star in the 60s. It saddens me to see my litte country town empty, but my memories are very vivid. Thank you for taking the photos — they represent the happiest time of my life.
Thank you so much for your comment! Capturing the memories of our small SC towns like Lone Star is one of the main reasons we started this photo gallery.