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Fair Play, South Carolina

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Oakway census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29643. The Survey maps it on the Fair Play quadrangle. 704 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 815 feet above sea level.

Fair Play within Oconee County

Population over time

2 figures

Fair Play grew from 687 to 704 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010687
2020704+17 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 17 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

134 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 134 fires within 5 miles of Fair Play between 1992 and 2020, burning about 306 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 4 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 burning72
Missing data/not specified/undetermined32
Equipment and vehicle use10
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Natural4
Arson/incendiarism4
Smoking3
Recreation and ceremony2
Fireworks2
Other causes1

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
6 September 1998Debris and open burning1.5 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 2007Natural1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
26 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
26 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
16 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2011-HART-004
12 September 2002Debris and open burning3.4 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2003-HART-008
1 September 1997Debris and open burning1.1 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
9 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Oconee County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Fair Play: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Vermiculite. 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
American Vermiculite #1 PitVermiculitePast ProducerMetamorphosed Igneous Intrusion

Every working recorded in Oconee County

Storms near this place

28 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fair Play in 28 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 13 hail, 12 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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
January 1995Thunderstorm WindFair Play$10,000no account filed
April 2010Tornado (EF0)Fair Play$5,000A short tornado track was surveyed in the Fair Play community. The tornado touched down along highway 59 between Cleveland Creek Rd and Doctors Rd. Part of the roof was blown off a manufactured home at this location, and numerous trees were snapped off or uprooted. The tornado continued in a northeast direction toward the Pine Grove Rd area, where damage to trees continued near the intersection of Grant Rd. The tornado appeared to dissipate in this area.
March 2003Thunderstorm WindFair Play$5,000Winds estimated at 80 mph blew several tractor trailer trucks off of I-85 near the Georgia border.
January 1995Tornado (F1)Fair Play$5,000no account filed
June 2025Thunderstorm WindFair Play-Numerous reports of blown down trees and power lines were received from the public, spotters, and media throughout Oconee County. The ASOS at the Oconee County Regional Airport measured a wind gust of 56 kts, or 64 mph.
August 2020HailFair Play-Amateur radio and public reported penny to nickel size hail near Fair Play.
April 2019Thunderstorm WindFair Play-Amateur radio operator reported docks loosened on Lake Hartwell and multiple trees blown down in extreme southern Oconee County, including the Fair Play area.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindFair Play-Public reported a few trees blown down in the Fair Play area.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindFair Play-County comms reported multiple trees blown down near Fair Play.
June 2017HailFair Play-Public reported pea to penny size hail in the Fair Play area.
April 2015HailFair Play-Spotter reported quarter size hail.
April 2015Thunderstorm WindFair Play-Spotter reported multiple trees and power lines blown down in the Fair Play area.
April 2012HailFair Play-Quarter size hail was reported near Fair Play.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindFair Play-Multiple trees and power lines were blown down in and around Fair Play, including along Dairy Farm Rd, West Pine Grove Rd, River Bend Rd and Shore Dr.
March 2011HailFair Play-Hail covered the road.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindFair Play-Numerous trees were blown down in and around Fair Play.
April 2009HailFair Play-Hail reported about 1 mile north of exit 1 on I-85.
February 2008Thunderstorm WindFair Play-Trees down in the Fair Play area, including near the intersection of I-85 and highway 11.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindFair Play-Part of a metal roof was torn off an outbuilding and blown 200 feet. Also, siding was torn off a home and a carport window was blown out. A large tree and several large limbs were blown down as well.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindFair Play-One tree down in Westminster and a tree took down a power lines in the Chickasaw Point area.
June 2010HailFair Play-no account filed
August 2007HailFair Play-no account filed
March 2003Flash FloodFair Play-no account filed
April 2002HailFair Play-no account filed
May 1999HailFair Play-no account filed
May 1998HailFair Play-no account filed
April 1997HailFair Play-no account filed
March 1996HailFair Play-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Oconee County

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
Fairplay Shores3.2 miles18
Earles Grove3.8 miles17
Port Bass4.3 miles18
South Union4.5 miles18
Cross Roads6.0 miles17
Timberlake6.5 miles17
Oakway6.6 miles18
Snug Harbor7.0 miles17

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.

Wikipedia article on Fair PlayAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4246483The 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 1222333. 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.