Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Yemassee

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Yemassee SCPhoto: Evanoco · CC BY-SA 4.0
C−History
History · Yemassee

Yemassee’s post office opened in 1868

More historic than 20% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Yemassee was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1918 on, and the census since 1910.

1868first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Yemassee’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Yemassee began

When was Yemassee founded?

1868

The Yemassee post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Pocotaligo (1801) and Tomotley (1877), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 250 in 19102020 census: 1,080158 years

How historic is Yemassee?

C−

More historic than 20% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Yemassee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Yemassee’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Yemassee is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Yemassee’s overall grade.
Founding era1868, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.1% of homes (±4.3) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%CNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical SC town 3.2 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 20%
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 Yemassee’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 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 Yemassee’s past

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

Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1950 and 1960, then more than doubled.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Yemassee, and 2 old place names are still on the map.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1731–1933.On the map since 19183 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1988. Watch Yemassee change.
★ What stands out · People over time

Yemassee, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200192019401960198020002020712 in 1950Low: 473

Lost a third of its people between 1950 and 1960, then more than doubled.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Yemassee’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Yemassee’s post office has been open since 1868. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Pocotaligo
1801–1872
Yemassee
1868–today
Tomotley
1877–1900
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BlountvilleTomotley
Gone or out of use
Fort BalfourmilitaryYemassee Schoolschool

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

By decade

Yemassee, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1730s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1730s1 item
Richfield Plantation1731Richfield PlantationDocument
1920s–1930s11 items
Captain John White Gregorie1927Captain John White GregorieEAST SIDE, LEFT TO RIGHT- KENNELS, STABLE - Auldbrass, Stable Complex, River Road1933EAST SIDE, LEFT TO RIGHT- KENNELS, STABLE - Auldbrass…EAST SIDE, LEFT TO RIGHT- KENNELS, STABLE, COVERED ENTRY, GATE HOUSE - Auldbrass, Stable Complex, River Road1933EAST SIDE, LEFT TO RIGHT- KENNELS, STABLE, COVERED EN…EAST SIDE- STABLE WITH STALL VENT SLOT IN WEST WALL. STALL GATE OPENS INWARD, BECAUSE OF OUTWARD SLOPE OF EAST WALL - A…1933EAST SIDE- STABLE WITH STALL VENT SLOT IN WEST WALL. …EAST SIDE- TACK ROOM AND STABLE. PADDOCK BEHIND PIPE RAIL FENCE - Auldbrass, Stable Complex, River Road1933EAST SIDE- TACK ROOM AND STABLE. PADDOCK BEHIND PIPE …GATE HOUSE, SOUTH SIDE, THRU COVERED ENTRY. GATE ON RIGHT - Auldbrass, Stable Complex, River Road1933GATE HOUSE, SOUTH SIDE, THRU COVERED ENTRY. GATE ON R…HOUSE, EAST SIDE. ALSO SHOWS NORTH PORTION INCLUDING BEDROOM WING, ENCLOSED KITCHEN PASSAGE AND KITCHEN (KITCHEN PASSAG…1933HOUSE, EAST SIDE. ALSO SHOWS NORTH PORTION INCLUDING …HOUSE, EAST SIDE. ALSO SHOWS SOUTH PORTION INCLUDING BEDROOM WING - Auldbrass, River Road1933HOUSE, EAST SIDE. ALSO SHOWS SOUTH PORTION INCLUDING …HOUSE, SOUTHEAST CORNER BEDROOM WING - Auldbrass, River Road1933HOUSE, SOUTHEAST CORNER BEDROOM WING - Auldbrass, Riv…HOUSE, WEST SIDE - Auldbrass, River Road1933HOUSE, WEST SIDE - Auldbrass, River RoadHOUSE, WEST SIDE CENTRAL BLOCK - Auldbrass, River Road1933HOUSE, WEST SIDE CENTRAL BLOCK - Auldbrass, River Road
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 album
The story

How Yemassee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Yemassee.

Read it all →

The town takes its name from the Native American tribe of the same name, the Yamasee, which was the most important Indian ally of South Carolina until the Yamasee War of 1715. The first attack that began the Yamasee War occurred in the Yamasee town of Pocotaligo, today part of the town of Yemassee.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Yemassee, 1731 to 2020

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1731In the archiveRichfield Plantation
  3. 19th century
  4. 1801Post officeThe Pocotaligo post office opens
  5. 1868Post officeThe Yemassee post office opens
  6. 1872Post officeThe Pocotaligo post office closes
  7. 1877Post officeThe Tomotley post office opens
  8. 20th century
  9. 1900Post officeThe Tomotley post office closes
  10. 1915Born hereFrank Blair is born here
  11. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 1927In the archiveCaptain John White Gregorie
  13. 1933In the archiveEAST SIDE, LEFT TO RIGHT- KENNELS, STABLE - Auldbrass, Stable Complex, River Road
  14. 21st century
  15. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 1,080
On the map

Yemassee on the map, 1918 to 1988

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

Yemassee on the 1918 USGS mapYemassee on the 1943 USGS mapYemassee on the 1988 USGS map1918Yemassee 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 Yemassee.

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.

Captain John White Gregorie
Retake this viewCaptain John White Gregorie, 1927

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Yemassee’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Yemassee’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCaptain John White Gregorie: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

SheldonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Yemassee’s history

What year was Yemassee founded?

The Yemassee post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Yemassee rank for history?

Yemassee is more historic than 20% 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.

How old are the homes in Yemassee?

4% of Yemassee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 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.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.