Hamburg, South Carolina

For a little over a century – from 1821 until 1929 – the now-extinct town of Hamburg occupied a portion of present-day North Augusta, located between the 5th Street Bridge and 13th Street Bridge. Though once home to a thriving inland port – the largest in South Carolina – Hamburg has now vanished almost completely. In its latter years, following the Civil War, it was also the site of a successful freedmen’s village. Sadly, it is remembered today primarily as the setting for the Hamburg Massacre, one of the bloodiest race riots in South Carolina’s history. In this violent battle, at least six black men were murdered without cause, purely for the sake of “provok[ing] a row.” Following a series of devastating floods in the early twentieth century, Hamburg became extinct. The former town was then incorporated into North Augusta.