Van Wyck, South Carolina

Van Wyck is an unincorporated community in the panhandle of Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States. There are many ways of pronouncing the name of the community- Wick, Wack, and Wike. Families who have lived in this area since its founding in the 1880s generally pronounce it as Van Wyck- as in "there is a lot to like about Van 'Wyck."

Van Wyck is the proud hometown of Olympian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Crawford Shawn Crawford] , gold and silver medalist from the 2004 games held in Athens, Greece.

Native American Presence

Van Wyck was home to the Waxhaw and Catawba Indians well before European contact. These indigenous people farmed the fertile land and hunted the woods, which were abundant with deer, turkey, and other wildlife. Present-day Van Wyck is located along what an ancient Indian trading path that ran from the Catawba villages to Camden, South Carolina. They traded with their neighbors and generations later the Catawbas still produce some of the most beautiful native pottery in the United States.

European Settlement

The Scots-Irish began settling in this area in 1760’s. After living in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Ireland for a generation, they sought out a better life in the New World. Their parents previously left Scotland after being recruited by the English king to “civilize” the land of Catholics. Soon after they found themselves being mistreated by the Crown. Their children crossed the Atlantic and settled in what are now Lancaster and Chester counties, Pennsylvania for a time. Unhappy with Pennsylvania, these hardy, quick-tempered, fiercely loyal settlers journeyed South to find a place where their religious sensibilities would not be compromised. They journeyed along the Great Wagon Road, which began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and wound its way through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the Piedmont of North and South Carolina, and into Georgia. One of our most famous Scots-Irish residents, Andrew Jackson probably explored and hunted in the wilderness that would become Van Wyck.

The American Revolution

The Revolution Years were turbulent ones in the Waxhaws. Tories, loyalist to the British crown, and Patriots fought one another in the Backcountry. The Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church, the oldest church in the Upstate of South Carolina, saw some of the horrors of war. Mutilated soldiers from the Battle of the Waxhaws (Waxhaw Massacre), or Buford's Massacre were brought there to recover or die.

Van Wyck in the early Federal Period

The area saw the first President of the United States visit. George Washington spent his last night in South Carolina at the home of Major Robert Crawford, whose plantation was said to be the one of the grandest in the area. Catawba chiefs, concerned with encroachment into their territory, met with President Washington, much to his annoyance.

The American Civil War

The 1860’s turned out to be a turbulent time for the South, and the area did not escape it. The Waxhaws sacrificed some of its sons fighting for a cause for which they believed. As the Civil War drew to a close, Union forces advanced their way north through a war weary and devastated Palmetto State. Residents began to panic, knowing what had happened in other areas as marauding Yankees passed through. People buried their silver and gold and waited for these unwelcome visitors. Yankee soldiers heard rumors of gold in the area. They were told Abel Nelson Washington Belk had a gold mine. Finding him, they took him to a creek to interrogate him. Mr. Belk was sick and had what was called at the time “weak lungs”. Mr. Belk was drowned in the creek, never revealing the site of the non-existent mine. When W.J. Vaughan returned for his buried gold and silverware, it was not to be found. It was never known if a slave or Union soldier took it or if it is stilled buried.

The Age of the Railroad

Van Wyck did not come into existence until the late 1880’s. The community owes its existence, as do so many other communities in South Carolina, to the railroad. It was the plan of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) to give all the railroad stops Indian names in the twenty miles of original Indian territory. To the west of Van Wyck, the stop was named Catawba. The next station, present day Van Wyck, was to be Cocheecho, named for a young Indian chief. That name was soon dropped and according to the writings of the late Kathleen Bates Belk, our area was always known as Little Waxhaw. After Van Wyck, there were the stations Osceola and then Waxhaw. People in the area felt wronged when the railway officials named a town in North Carolina Waxhaw, as the area around Van Wyck was nearer the geographic center of the Waxhaws regioin.

In a time before zip codes and computer automation, this caused problems for the Post Office. Little Waxhaws became confused with the town Waxhaw, in Union County, North Carolina. The name was then changed to Heaths, to honor the family who gave the land for the depot; however, it soon became confused with the town of Heath Springs in south east Lancaster county. Finally, an agent with the railroad stepped in. He proposed naming the town in honor of his wife’s family from upper New York. As a result, the community has a Dutch name in the heart of land named for the native inhabitants of the area.

For the most part, Van Wyck is a very quiet place. Occasionally, extraordinary things occur. July, 1916 was a period of excitement and anxiety in Van Wyck. The Catawba River rose to record levels. On July 17, the Catawba River trestle near Van Wyck, lifted off the piers and floated away intact for a distance of four or five miles, until it reached island and rapids near Landsford Canal. Livestock, houses, barns, cotton bales, and trees floated down the river. The waters left the banks of Twelve Mile Creek and engulfed the Ashe Brick Company, then only ten years old. The depot was located on the Ashe Brick Company side of the tracks (northern side) and could only be reached by boat. Rail service did not return to the area until August 1.