The Port Royal Railroad was a South Carolina railroad that was constructed following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The line was chartered in 1856 but wasn't built until 1870. By 1871, it ran from

Port Royal, South Carolina Port Royal is a town on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 14,220 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island–Bluffton metropolitan area. Port Royal is home to Marine Corps R ...

, to

Yemassee, South Carolina Yemassee () is a town in Hampton and Beaufort counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 1,080 at the 2020 census. Located in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Yemassee is divided by the county line between Hampton and Beaufo ...

. It was extended to

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

in 1873. That same year, the company declared bankruptcy and was sold to the new Port Royal and Augusta Railway in 1878. Although the railroad's ownership changed hands several times over the years of its operation, the physical railroad was in continuous operation until 2006, when the Port of Port Royal was finally closed by the State of South Carolina. In 2009, ownership of the railroad right-of-way was transferred to the

Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority The Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority (often shortened to BJWSA) is a public water system and non-profit corporation which handles water and wastewater operations for many areas in Beaufort and Jasper counties in the Lowcountry region of ...

and was officially decommissioned. BJWSA began removing the rails in 2010 to prepare for water & sewer infrastructure and the creation of a

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

. Portions of the

Spanish Moss Trail The Spanish Moss Trail is a partially-completed, ten-mile multi-purpose rail trail in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina, Beaufort County, South Carolina. Using the former Port Royal Railroad right-of-way now owned by Beaufort-Jasper Water ...

opened to the public in 2012.

References

External links

Port Royal to Yemasee, SC (Abandoned Railroads)
Defunct South Carolina railroads Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads Railway companies established in 1870 Railway companies disestablished in 1878 {{US-rail-company-stub

See also

References

External links