A history of Santee,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Santee from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusSantee is a town in Orangeburg County along the Santee River Valley in central South Carolina, United States. It has become a resort town of note located centrally north-south along the Atlantic Seaboard of South Carolina. The region has been rural, with a primarily agricultural economy typical of Orangeburg County, but is now known primarily for its several golf courses in proximity to Lake Marion, Santee State Park and other Lake Marion attractions. Interstate 95 connects its attractions easily with tourists traveling by automobile. I-95 crosses a narrow arm of the lake into the town lands, along a causeway. Lake Marion is a man-made hydroelectric reservoir, which at 110,000 acres (450 km…
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 961 to 797 (-17%). Half of its homes were built before 1993.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Santee yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Santee’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewH.S. Shonnard, Harrieta Plantatio…, 1937: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Santee
See all 3 →
Santee, decade by decade
CommonsH.S. Shonnard, Harrieta Plantation, residence in Santee, So…1937
CommonsH.S. Shonnard, Harrieta Plantation, residence in Santee, So…1937
CommonsH.S. Shonnard, Harrieta Plantation, residence in Santee, So…1937
CommonsH.S. Shonnard, Harrieta Plantation, residence in Santee, So…1937
CommonsH.S. Shonnard, Harrieta Plantation, residence in Santee, So…1937
1990s
Nothing in Santee is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Santee has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Dantzler Plantation in Santee, 4.8 miles away.
Santee and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as H.S. Shonnard, Harrieta Plantation, residence in Santee, South Carolina. LOC gsc.5a02866 (1937) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.