Beech Island, South Carolina
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Beech Island is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
and
census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) in
Aiken County, South Carolina Aiken County () is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 168,808. Its county seat and largest community is Aiken. Aiken County is a part of the Augusta- Richmond County, GA-SC Metropolitan ...
, United States.Walter Edgar, Ed.: ''The South Carolina Encyclopedia'', The University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2006, p. 63. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 1,421.


History

According to tradition, the community was first named "Beech Highland" on account of its lofty elevation, and over time the H was dropped, causing the present name to be adopted. Beech Island was primarily an agricultural community before the 1950s. Cotton, wheat, corn, and soybean were the major crops. This changed with the construction of Urquhart Station Power Station and the nearby Savannah River Nuclear Project. New highways were built to accommodate the workers commuting to the Nuclear Project. Commerce grew and the community began to change. In the 1960s
Kimberly-Clark Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimb ...
built a large manufacturing facility on what was once farmland, creating more jobs. The boom, however, was short-lived. Beech Island's most famous resident was
James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
, who lived there for the last few decades of his life on a estate. Brown is buried in a crypt on a family member's property in Beech Island. The Cedars, Fort Moore-Savano Town Site,
Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site is a state park in South Carolina, United States. Redcliffe Plantation, also known as Redcliffe, completed in 1859, is a Greek Revival plantation house located on the site that is listed on the National R ...
, Oakland Plantation, and
Zubly Cemetery The Zubly Cemetery near Beech Island, South Carolina, which is a small community in Aiken County, South Carolina was established around 1790 by Swiss settlers of the nearby New Windsor Township. It illustrates the vernacular burial customs of th ...
are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. Beech Island is also home to most of the television transmitters that serve the
media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...
of
Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...
.


Demographics


2020 census

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''


Education

It is in the Aiken County Public School District. Beech Island is zoned to Redcliffe Elementary School, Jackson Middle School, and Silver Bluff High School. Silver Bluff High opened in 1981 as a consolidated high school for Beech Island,
Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...
, and New Ellenton.


See also

* Beech Island Historical Society * - the island in Georgia * - the community in South Carolina


References

Unincorporated communities in South Carolina Unincorporated communities in Aiken County, South Carolina Census-designated places in South Carolina Census-designated places in Aiken County, South Carolina Augusta metropolitan area {{SouthCarolina-geo-stub