The story
Read it all →How Meggett came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Meggett.
The Towles Farmstead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · Meggett
Meggett’s post office opened in 1893, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Meggett was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 11 buildings. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1960 on, and the census since 1950.
1893first post office
1on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
11old photos & papers
Quick answers
How Meggett began
When was Meggett founded?
1893
The Meggett post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Yonges Island (1910), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 224 in 19502020 census: 1,390133 years
How historic is Meggett?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Meggett post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Meggett’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Meggett is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Meggett’s overall grade.
Founding era1893, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19408.8% of homes (±5.1) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register1 listing, 11 historic buildings, 84.2 per 10,000 residents · typical SC town 3.2 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 56%
NewerOlder
South Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Carolina town has 3.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Meggett’s 84.2 sits above most of its state (82% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 11 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Meggett’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone
Meggett had its own post office from 1893 to 1986. Another post office, Yonges Island, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Meggett
Yonges Island
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ClementiaGannonYonges Island
Gone or out of use
Yonges Island AirportairportYonges Island Post Officepost office
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Meggett, 1893 to 1986
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1893Post officeThe Meggett post office opens
- 20th century
- 1910Post officeThe Yonges Island post office opens
- 1933
In the archiveEAST SIDE - Summit (House), County Road 390 - 1960
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1986Post officeThe Meggett post office closes
- 1986Post officeThe Yonges Island post office closes
By decade
Meggett, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1930s10 items
1933EAST SIDE - Summit (House), County Road 390
1933HALL, LOOKING NORTH, FIRST FLOOR - Summit (House), Co…
1933NORTH (REAR) ELEVATION (left side) AND WEST SIDE. NOT…
1933SOUTH (FRONT) ELEVATION. Porch being built. - Summit …
1933SOUTHEAST CORNER OF HOUSE- CORNICE AND FRAMING DETAIL…
1933SOUTHEAST ROOM, NORTH WALL, FIRST FLOOR - Summit (Hou…
1933SOUTHWEST ROOM, NORTH WALL, FIRST FLOOR - Summit (Hou…
1933SOUTHWEST ROOM, NORTH WALL, FIRST FLOOR- MANTLE DETAI…
1933WEST SIDE - Summit (House), County Road 390
1933WEST SIDE- FOUNDATION DETAIL SHOWING LEFT STUCCOED AN…1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumDate unknown1 to date
Date?Today1 recent
2019On the map
Meggett on the map, 1960 to 1990
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Meggett. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1960Wadmalaw Island sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Meggett.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewEAST SIDE - Summit (House), County Road 390, 1933
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Meggett’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 listing protects 11 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
11
each building in a district counts
first listed
1994
Towles Farmstead
Districts
Architectural styles listings
Neo-Classical1
Colonial Revival1
All 1 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Meggett, census by census
Grew from 224 people in 1950 to 1,390 in 2020, 6 times over.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Meggett’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Meggett
Nobody well known was born in Meggett itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Help out
Finish Meggett’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Meggett’s history
What year was Meggett founded?
The Meggett post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Meggett rank for history?
Meggett is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Meggett?
One place: the Towles Farmstead (listed 1994).
How old are the homes in Meggett?
9% of Meggett’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1991.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (11), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.