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South Mills NC bridge 2020aPhoto: Photogeographer · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · South Mills

South Mills’ post office opened in 1840, and 3 of its places are on the National Register

Most of South Mills was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: maps from 1940 on.

1840first post office
3on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How South Mills began

When was South Mills founded?

1840

The South Mills post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, New Lebanon (1797), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 362186 years
Founding year: the first South Mills post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about South Mills’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of South Mills are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1840: 186 years of South Mills.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start South Mills’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how South Mills’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

South Mills, 1797 to 1940

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1797Post officeThe New Lebanon post office opens
  3. 19th century
  4. 1840Post officeThe New Lebanon post office closes
  5. 1840Post officeThe South Mills post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1907Born hereMary Elliott Hill is born here
  8. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

South Mills, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of South Mills yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

South Mills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Camden County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, South Mills had a population of 362. South Mills has a post office with ZIP code 27976, which opened on March 2, 1840. The community is located near U.S. Route 17, and U.S. Route 17 Business and North Carolina Highway 343, and future Interstate 87 (North Carolina) pass through the community. The community derived its name from a watermill which operated near the original town site. The William Riley Abbott House, Dismal Swamp Canal, and Morgan House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Its first post office opened in 1840. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 454 to 362 (-20%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

South Mills on the map, 1940 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of South Mills. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

South Mills on the 1940 USGS mapSouth Mills on the 1952 USGS mapSouth Mills on the 1982 USGS map1940South Mills sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of South Mills.

On the National Register

3 historic places in South Mills

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1972
Morgan House
William Riley Abbott HouseDismal Swamp Canal
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Morgan HouseBuilding
William Riley Abbott HouseGreek Revival
Dismal Swamp CanalDistrict

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

South Mills’s post office has been open since 1840. Another post office, New Lebanon, opened and closed inside today’s town.

New Lebanon
1797–1840
South Mills
1840–today
17901910today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about South Mills’ history

What year was South Mills founded?

The South Mills post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in South Mills?

Three places: the Morgan House (listed 1972), the William Riley Abbott House (1978) and the Dismal Swamp Canal (1988).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.