Gifford, South Carolina
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Estill census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29923. The Survey maps it on the Gifford quadrangle. 257 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 138 feet above sea level.
On record in Gifford
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 1 record
Gifford Rosenwald Schoollisted 2017
Population over time
3 figuresGifford fell from 370 to 257 between 2000 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 370 | |
| 2010 | 288 | -82 (-22%) |
| 2020 | 257 | -31 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 16 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1918 USGS Varnville quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1944 USGS Varnville quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Savannah quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Savannah quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Savannah quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Savannah quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Savannah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Sylvania quadrangle1:100000
- 1988 USGS Gifford quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
194 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 194 fires within 5 miles of Gifford between 1992 and 2020, burning about 928 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 47 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 burning | 64 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 47 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 13 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 1997 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 21 September 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 2 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 9 August 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 August 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 August 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 August 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Gifford: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unidentified Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
13 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gifford in 13 storm reports between 2005 and 2021: 12 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | $2,000 | Trees down. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | $1,500 | Two trees were reported down along Highway 363 near Lake Warren State Park. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | $1,000 | A picture of a fallen tree was shared on social media by a local broadcast station. The tree fell on a powerline on Thomas Hamilton Road. |
| March 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | $1,000 | The South Carolina Highway Patrol reported a tree down on Luray Highway near Hope Well Road. |
| November 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | $1,000 | The Hampton County Warning Point reported 2 trees down on Deer Road, 2 miles northeast of Luray. |
| April 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | $500 | Law Enforcement reported a tree in the roadway at Thomas Hamilton Road. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | $500 | Tree was reported down along Hope Well Road. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | $500 | Power lines were reported down on Hopewell Road in Gifford. |
| April 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | Gifford | - | The National Weather Service in Charleston South Carolina confirmed a weak, brief tornado just east of Gifford in Hampton County, South Carolina on 04/03/2017. A National Weather Service storm survey team found that a tornado touched down about 2.7 miles east of Gifford, SC, then traveled approximately one third of a mile east-northeast before lifting near Thomas Hamilton Road. The damage was limited to uprooting of small soft and hardwood trees. Maximum wind speeds were estimated to be 80 mph. More widespread tree damage was just south of the tornado, associated with straight-line winds. |
| April 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | - | A Hampton County emergency manager reported around 20 trees down on Thomas Hamilton Road. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | - | South Carolina Highway Patrol reported a tree down and in the roadway on Hope Well Road near the intersection with Deer Road. South Carolina Department of Transportation is responding to the downed tree. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | - | South Carolina Highway Patrol reported that a tree was blown down onto Murdaugh Street at the Walters Place intersection. |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gifford | - | Trees and powerlines down along Thomas Hamilton Road. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rouse | 2.6 miles | 15 | |
| Dukes | 2.6 miles | 16 | |
| Valentine | 2.7 miles | 15 | |
| Luray | 3.2 miles | 16 | |
| Richardson Crossroads | 3.8 miles | 16 | |
| Halls Mill | 5.2 miles | 16 | |
| Brunson | 5.3 miles | 16 | |
| Hampton | 6.0 miles | 16 |
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 Gifford | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2626088 | The 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 1222698. 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.








