Vaucluse, South Carolina

Vaucluse is an unincorporated community in Aiken County in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is located at coord|33|36|45|N|81|48|35|W|.

Three miles from Graniteville and 6 miles from Aiken, Vaucluse is the site of the pioneering Horse Creek Valley textile mill. Employing 50 'operatives' on 1500 spindles and 25 looms, the mill was incorporated by local planter Christian Breithaupt in 1833, with later investors George McDuffie, John Bauskett, and William Gregg. Gregg found it under-capitalized and too small for economic survival, producing an unmanageable variety of products, and suffering due to a lack of active management. As such it served Gregg as a training ground for his successful Graniteville project of 1847.

Gregg observed 'the most indifferent overseer's house in Lowel [Massachusetts] , at least such as I saw, cost more than the whole village of Vaucluse, containing upwards of 200 inhabitants including a comfortable dwelling recently built as a residence for one of its owners'. The existing mill building ca. 1880 employed 300 operators on 10,000 spindles under ownership of the Graniteville Company until its recent closure. The Vaucluse Mill Village Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Demographics

As of 2000, the population of the community consists of 89 people. 100% White, non of which are Hispanic. "Please note, that this is just the data for the census tract, and may not be indictive of the entire community" [http://www.zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=29850]

Incorporation

There have been talks about incorporating the villages of Graniteville, Vaucluse, and, Warrenville, recently, the towns approved a referendum to vote on whether or not to incorporate. [http://www.masc.sc/Municipal%20News/111607_Aiken_Standard_Petitions_put_GVW_closer_to_being_city.htm] If approved, the municipality would be around 20 sq. miles [http://www.aikenstandard.com/homepage/292568584395065.php] . Vaucluse has been the only one of the towns where a significant proportion of the population is against the incorporation. Many cite the fact that it would only include half of the village (the proposed municipal limits have to have a population density of three hundred, and using the other half of the village would make it impossible to incorporate) [http://www.aikenstandard.com/homepage/311592674975197.php]

External links

* [http://www.topoquest.com/map.asp?lat=33.6125&lon=-81.81 TopoQuest topographic map]
* [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/cgi-bin/sanb.cgi?id=augusta_ga-1884-s-21 1884 Sanborn map for "Graniteville Manufacturing Co. Vaucluse Mills"]
* [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/cgi-bin/sanb.cgi?id=augusta_ga-1904-s-68 1904 Sanborn map for "Graniteville Mfg. Co. Mill No. 2"]
* [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/cgi-bin/sanb.cgi?id=augusta_ga-1920-s-68 1920 Sanborn map for Vaucluse Mill and environs]
*Gnis|1251291|Vaucluse
* [http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/tompkins/tompkins.html William Gregg (1845), Essays on Domestic Industry.] Published as an appendix to cite book | first = Daniel Augustus | last = Tompkins | title = Cotton Mill, Commercial Features. A Text-Book for the Use of Textile Schools and Investors | year = 1899 | publisher = | id =
* [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC24758728 cite book | first = August | last = Kohn | title = The Cotton Mills of South Carolina, 1907 | year = 1907 | publisher = SC Department of Agriculture | id = OCLC 24758728] p.16
* [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0195069617 cite book | first = Lacy K. | last = Ford, Jr. | title = Origins of Southern Radicalism: The South Carolina Upcountry 1800-1860 | year = 1988 | publisher = Oxford University Press | id = ISBN 0-19-504422-3] p.64