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Batesburg, South Carolina

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Batesburg-Leesville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29006. The Survey maps it on the Batesburg quadrangle. It stands 659 feet above sea level.

Batesburg within Lexington County

On record in Batesburg

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 12 records

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

90 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 90 fires within 5 miles of Batesburg between 1992 and 2020, burning about 410 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 8 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning35
Missing data/not specified/undetermined28
Arson/incendiarism8
Equipment and vehicle use5
Natural5
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Recreation and ceremony2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
7 September 1997Debris and open burning20 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 1999Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
12 September 2006Debris and open burning1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
26 August 2002Naturalunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
24 August 2011Debris and open burning1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
22 August 2011Power generation/transmission/distribution1.5 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Lexington County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Batesburg: 1 past producer, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay, Granite, Stone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Marlowe CreekClayPast ProducerSedimentary
Whittle QuarryGranite, Stone, DimensionUnknownIgneous

Every working recorded in Lexington County

Storms near this place

35 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Batesburg in 35 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 21 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 lightning. The reports record 6 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 1999Thunderstorm WindBatesburg6 hurtSheriff reported trees down throughout county and damage to homes and buildings, including Airport High School where several students and faculty were injurred by flying debris.
June 2023Flash FloodBatesburg$500,000Batesburg-Leesville police reported numerous road closures with multiple stalled vehicles including Hall Street at Elizabeth Street, Liberty Street at S. Oak Street, and Railroad Ave at Fox Street. A vehicle was submerged by flood water on Bethlehem Rd.|Significant flooding along Hwy 1 near Broad St under the Railroad bridge with at least 2 feet of water crossing the road resulted in a permanent road closure until CSX railroad could come and inspect the railroad bridge due to unstable tracks from wash out. |Water was also entering 4 homes in and around Batesburg-Leesville.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindBatesburg$150,000Reported large trees down in Batesburg and power poles down in Leesville. Significant damage also occurred at Wiz's Southern Convenience storm and Oswald Lumber company.
April 2015Thunderstorm WindBatesburg$36,000Sheriff reported trees fell on a house and parked vehicle on Madera Road between Hwys 391 and 178.
July 2011LightningBatesburg$28,000Spotter reported a barn was completely destroyed be fire caused from a lightning strike.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindBatesburg$10,000EM reported numerous trees down at Hwy 178 and Fairview Road and also at I-20 exit 39.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindBatesburg$3,000DOT reported several trees down in Batesburg.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindBatesburg$2,000Highway Patrol reported several trees down near Batesburg.
February 2003Thunderstorm WindBatesburg$2,000Sheriff and SKYWARN spotters AF4VN and KE4LHS reported a shed destroyed in Batesburg and trees down in eastern portions of the county from Swansea to Chapin.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Spotter report with video. Estimated 50-60 mph winds near Batesburg.
June 2023Heavy RainBatesburg-USGS rain gage at Batesburg-Leesville Municipal Building measured 3.01 inches of rain in one hour. The two day rainfall total was 8.02 inches.
July 2021Flash FloodBatesburg-Heavy rain overwhelmed a culvert along Duncan Creek causing part of Hwy 391 south of Bethlehem Rd to be closed off by law enforcement. Video sent on social media showed water along the road which was estimated to be around 2 ft deep. Time of flash flooding estimated.
October 2014Funnel CloudBatesburg-Public reported and provided video of a wall cloud and funnel cloud.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Trained spotter measured a 52 kt wind gust.
July 2011HailBatesburg-Public reported nickel to quarter size hail in Batesburg.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Public reported a couple of trees down on CR 23.
August 2006Flash FloodBatesburg-Police reported several roads cclosed due to flooded waters. A couple of cars were stalled in the water with no occupants inside.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Highway Patrol reported trees down on I-20 between mile marker 40 and 44.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-City police reported several trees down on powerlines.
September 2003Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Police reported a few trees down in Batesburg around Summerland and Youman streets.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Sheriff reported trees down at Bethany School House in Batesburg.
July 2003HailBatesburg-Police reported 3/4 inch hail.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Police reported trees and powerlines down.
July 2003HailBatesburg-Public reported 3/4 inch hail.
May 2001HailBatesburg-Police reported dime size hail.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Highway Maintenance reported trees down in the Batesburg area.
April 1999HailBatesburg-Sheriff reported nickel size hail at I20 and hwy 178.
April 1999HailBatesburg-Police reported dime size hail.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Sheriff reported powerlines down.
June 1998HailBatesburg-SKYWARN spotter reported 3/4 inch hail.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-SKYWARN spotter reported trees down.
April 1998HailBatesburg-Spotter reported dime size hail.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-Sheriff reports trees down along U.S.1.
October 1995Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-no account filed
June 1994Thunderstorm WindBatesburg-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Lexington County

Newspapers printed here

1,630 digitised pages

1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 261 issues, 1,630 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.

NewspaperPublished
The Batesburg Advocate1901 to 1911

What the paper printed

9,371 words

Front pages of the local paper, read from the Library of Congress scans: 3 issues all from 1901, 9,371 words in total. Each is reproduced on its own page, exactly as the recogniser returned it.

These pages read less well than anything else here, and the number is worth stating: about three words in four come through cleanly, against nine in ten for the building records. An 1896 broadsheet sets eight-point type in seven columns on microfilm, which is the hardest thing in this archive to read by machine. We tested our own recognisers against the Library's and they were not better, so the Library's text is what appears, with the wholly unreadable columns removed. Read it as a guide to what the paper covered, and follow the link to the scan before quoting anything.

IssuePaper Length
1901-01-16The Batesburg Advocate3,285 words
1901-03-13The Batesburg Advocate2,999 words
1901-05-22The Batesburg Advocate3,087 words

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Batesburg-Leesville0.6 miles11
Leesville1.9 miles11
Kneece3.1 miles11
Fredonia4.7 miles12
Mims5.1 miles12
Chinquapin Falls5.8 miles11
Hall (historical)6.3 miles12
Summit6.7 miles12

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikidata item Q34676391The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1244979. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.