Tamassee, South Carolina
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Salem census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29686. It stands on Reece Branch. The Survey maps it on the Tamassee quadrangle. 60 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,073 feet above sea level.
On record in Tamassee
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
Tamassee DAR Schoollisted 2012
Surveyed buildings and structures 1 record
- Tamassee, Tamasseefederal building survey, 6 photographs
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 19 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.
- 1886 USGS Walhalla quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Walhalla quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1896 USGS Walhalla quadrangle1:125000
- 1954 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Tamassee quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1981 USGS Toccoa quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1996 USGS Tamassee quadrangle1:24000
Photographs
1 photograph,Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
88 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 88 fires within 5 miles of Tamassee between 1992 and 2020, burning about 297 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 7 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 |
| Debris and open burning | 30 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | 8.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1998 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Francis Marion & Sumter National Forests | DODGE MOUNTAIN |
| 5 August 2008 | Natural | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 August 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2.5 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 17 August 2008 | Natural | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 July 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Francis Marion & Sumter National Forests | WINDING STAIRS |
| 3 July 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 July 2000 | 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
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Tamassee: 3 past producers, 2 prospects, 1 unknown, 1 plant. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Marble, Dimension, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marble Prospect | Marble, Dimension | Prospect | ||
| Unnamed Clay Prospect | Clay | Prospect | ||
| (Facility) Unnamed Silver Smelter Site | Silver | Plant | ||
| Unnamed Silver Mine | Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Jesse Lay Mine | Gold | Unknown | Vein | |
| Jesse Lay Mine | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Kuhtman Mine | Gold | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
29 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tamassee in 29 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 15 thunderstorm wind, 12 hail, 2 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 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | $5,000 | County reported numerous trees blown down, along with non-specific roof damage to a home on Jumping Branch Road. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Tamassee | - | Spotter reported quarter size hail. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Tamassee | - | Spotter reported quarter size hail near Flat Shoals Rd and Oconee Court Rd. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Tamassee | - | A CoCoRaHS observer reported nickel size hail on N Little River Rd. |
| September 2024 | Hail | Tamassee | - | Ham radio operator reported quarter size hail along North Little River Rd. |
| March 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | County comms reported a few trees blown down on Bumgardner Dr near Highway 11. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | County comms reported numerous trees and power lines blown down across Oconee County. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Tamassee | - | Ham radio operator reported along North Little River Rd. |
| March 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | County comms reported a tree blown down on a power line along Bethel Church Rd. Public reported (via Social Media) at least one additional tree down along with power lines in the Salem area. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | County comms reported scattered trees blown down in the Salem area. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Tamassee | - | Ham radio operator reported penny size hail on North Little River Rd. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | County comms reported trees blown down near the intersection of Flat Shoals Rd and Horseshoe Lane. |
| March 2017 | Hail | Tamassee | - | County comms reported quarter sized hail at Oconee Station State Historic Site. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | Public reported multiple trees blown down in the area around Lecroy Rd and Falcons Dr. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | Numerous trees blown down just west of the Tamassee community. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | Trees and power lines were blown down about 5 miles southwest of Salem. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Tamassee | - | Quarter size hail fell along Falcons Nest Rd. |
| May 2011 | Hail | Tamassee | - | Public reported very large hail ranging from 2-inches in diameter to baseball size in the|Mountain Rest area, including along Whetstone Rd. |
| October 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Tamassee | - | A short tornado damage path was surveyed near the Falcon's Lair area north of Walhalla. Several trees were snapped or uprooted and one residence sustained minor damage. |
| October 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | Trees were blown down along highway 11 west of Salem. Another tree was blown down on Whitewater Point Rd. The public reported seeing funnel clouds in this area, but no evidence of a tornado was found. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | Numerous trees were blown down and shingles blown from roofs near Tamassee. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | Trees were blown down at highway 11 and Oconee Station Rd. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | Several trees were blown down along Little River Rd. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | Large tree branches down. |
| April 2003 | Hail | Tamassee | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Tamassee | - | no account filed |
| January 1998 | Hail | Tamassee | - | no account filed |
| April 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tamassee | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Tamassee | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat Shoals | 1.6 miles | 20 | |
| Camp Oak | 1.7 miles | 20 | |
| Cheohee | 2.1 miles | 19 | |
| Salem | 2.4 miles | 19 | |
| Picket Post | 3.9 miles | 20 | |
| Moody Cove | 4.5 miles | 19 | |
| Boones Creek | 4.6 miles | 19 | |
| Forest Acres | 5.3 miles | 20 |
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 Tamassee | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7680946 | 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 1251114. 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.







