Pride, enormous disappointment and an ugly feud between neighbors all mark significant events in the history of Pinckneyville in Union County, SC - or at least what used to be Pinckneyville, SC and is now the site of a South Carolina ghost town.

Located approximately 16 miles to the northeast of Union, SC are the ghostly ruins of a town that was formed in 1791 solely for the purpose of setting up a courthouse. After the American Revolution the circuit courts were redistricted, the end result being the creation of Pinckneyville, a new town that would be built around a brand new court.

According to a feature article in the Chester News from 1965, in 1791 when Pinckneyville was created, it was expected that it would be a "commercial metropolis of upper South Carolina and residences and stores were built accordingly."The planners named the streets after streets in Charleston. This was going to be a big deal in South Carolina's upstate.

Union County's first jail was built in Pinckneyville, with a "hanging ground" about a mile away.

But hold on. In 1800, the SC judicial system was revised again after the short-lived system that created Pinckneyville was deemed inadequate. The court was moved to Union, which would become the County Seat for Union County. Poor Pinckneyville. Families had moved there for the promise of what was to come. After the court was moved, two Irish families in particular, the McMahan's and the Taylor's bought some of the existing buildings from the government. The McMahans bought the courthouse and converted it into a residence. While Tom Taylor operated the hotel across the street. The jail was also converted into a residence.

In spite of the big disapointment associated with Pinckneyville's community-wide reversal of fortune, the McMahans and Taylors seem to have stayed in the community, which eventually dried up completely after the arrival of the railroads.

However, history shows there was much strife between McMahan and Taylor. In his article in the Chester News, Arthur Cornwall claims to have found several lawsuits involving the two. The central issues were about property lines and property titles. There appears to have been a fuming battle brewing between the two men for years.

Cornwall reports that neighbors down the street had two oxen they named "McMahan" and "Taylor" because the two oxen could never seem to work/pull together.

The bitter feud between McMahan and Taylor lasted until the very end. McMahan died in 1848 and was buried nearby. His feuding neighbor, however, played a trump card long before that. He died 16 years earlier, in 1832. Just before his death he arranged for his body to be buried in front of McMahan's house so McMahan would have to see his grave every day.

The marker for Tom Taylor's gravesite is still present among the ruins in Pinckneyville. It sits at the base of this tree.

In 2014 the ghost hunting team at South Carolina Supernatural Investigations trekked out to Pinckneyville to see if they could verify any haunting activity at the ruins of Pinckneyville. According to their website, the case is still open. We wonder if Taylor and McMahan are still lingering there feuding over those property lines and titles.

UPDATE: On Dec. 30, 2016 a reader reported that in his attempt to access Pinckneyville he would have been forced to cross private property that now has "No Trespassing" signs posted. If you find another way into the ruins of Pinckneyville that doesn't involve trespassing, then please let everyone know below in our comments section.

Do you know of any ghost towns or interesting family feuds from South Carolina's history? Share with us in our comments!

(The information in this article was gathered from various sources, including details obtained from a 1965 feature article written by Arthur Cornwall and published in the Chester News.)