In the 19th and 20th centuries, some counties in South Carolina established poor houses as places where paupers were sent to live. Often, they were elderly or disabled people in the community who had nowhere else to turn. Usually, a Poor House was accompanied by a Poor House Farm, where the able-bodied worked until they were no longer able.
A more defined definition states that poorhouses were tax-supported residential institutions to which people were required to go if they could not support themselves. They were started as a method of providing a less expensive (to taxpayers) alternative to what we would now call “welfare,” which was called “outdoor relief” in those days.
The conditions within these institutions were horrible. Poor people ate thrifty, unpalatable food, slept in crowded, often unsanitary conditions, and were put to work breaking stones, crushing bones, spinning cloth, or doing domestic labor, among other jobs. It was stated that poorhouses were designed to punish people for their poverty.
Around 1830, the Poor House Farm in Fairfield County was established on approximately 295 acres. Eventually, the farm was sold at auction in 1945 to new owners who changed the name. The present-day farm is situated near I-77 on Highway 34. It should be noted that the land is now private property and requires special permission to access.
The only part of the original structure that still exists is the Poor House Cemetery. The creepy land is home to at least 73 former residents and likely many more, with only one marker still standing. The sunken depressions in the ground can be distinguished as old graves.
Many have stated that the old residents still haunt the grounds, looking to finish their chores. The next time you hear, “I don’t want to end up in the poor house or die in one”, you will now be able to relate to how and when that sentiment originated.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr