Recalling Seaboard Air Line's 'East Carolina'

It was a technological marvel when it was completed by the Jefferson Construction Co. of Charleston in December 1917.

The finished product was an almost plumb-line straight high-speed railroad connecting Charleston and Savannah, Ga., covering 88 miles over rivers and through swamp land.

Photo by William Moneypenny

The Grove Street Station in Charleston was the stop for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's "East Carolina" route, which ran through the Lowcountry. The photograph was taken in the first half of the 1930s.

This was the southern portion of Seaboard Air Line Railway's "East Carolina" (E.C. for short), a name given to the line by the Seaboard men who built, maintained and operated it.

It connected many towns to Charleston and Savannah that we do not hear much about these days — places like Airy Hall, Barrelville, Wiggins, Dale, Lobeco and Coosaw.

While it played a key role in expediting Seaboard's many northbound freight trains from Florida to the Northeast, a sizable amount of freight originated on the E.C. itself. Seaboard built several large open loading sheds for produce shipments. They had names like "Stono Potato Washer" and "Sea Island Potato Washer" and were placed all along the route to bring Lowcountry crops to market. Lumber operations like the Savannah River Lumber Co. in Wiggins shipped large amounts of finished lumber on this line. It was also famous for hosting the "Boll Weevil," a gas/electric powered railcar that served as a railway post office, a package express vehicle and a passenger train.

The E.C. between Charleston and Savannah did not survive the merger between the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Railroads on July 1, 1967. The tracks were taken up almost immediately afterward between Charleston and Lobeco. It was deemed a surplus and unnecessary route.

The northern portion of the E.C. is still operated by CSX Transportation between North Charleston and Hamlet, N.C. Hopefully, this section will prove useful to CSX with the coming port expansion at the old Naval Base and traffic levels may return to it like it was in the Seaboard era.

I understand that there are a few of the produce sheds still standing at Albemarle, Stono and Barrelville, as is the depot in Pritchardville. I recently visited the trestle over Huspah Creek off Highway 21 going into Beaufort, which has partially been converted to a fishing pier by the county. While I was there, I also found the surveyed crossing site where the E.C. crossed the Charleston and Western Carolina Railway at Coosaw.

Woods have largely taken it over, but one can still see where the roadbed was filled and there are still concrete stands by the bed where the signal masts were.

The C&WC line is still there, but it is unused since no more commerce comes in at Port Royal. I imagine it will be taken up eventually as well. A dirt road called "Rail Bed Road" is there just north of the crossing site, and there is a road through the woods called Coosaw Station Lane. These are the only reminders of the commerce that went on there so many years ago.

So, the next time you are walking or biking along Grove Street or on the old roadbed in St. Andrews Parish give a quick thanks to the railroad that tied two historic port cities together and enabled Lowcountry residents to engage in commerce from which we all benefit today.

For more information about the history of the E.C., log on to http://aclsal.org and pick up the fourth quarter 2002 and first quarter 2003 magazines and read the great articles by John Golden and Buddy Hill.

I would enjoy reading any follow-up letters sent to The Post and Courier by anyone who lived or worked along the E.C. It is a great part of Lowcountry history, and we should not let its memory die.

DAVID SHEALY

Fox Pond Drive

Mount Pleasant