There are some interesting stories behind the names of roads in Lexington County. Here are a few.

Amick’s Ferry Road

Captain Tom Amick operated a ferry on the Saluda River from 1874 to 1916. In an article in the Columbia Record newspaper in 1938, Amick said an average trip across the ferry was 103 yards and took 15 to 20 minutes.

His ferry was on Ferry Road, just a right turn off of Amick’s Ferry Road, which stretches from Chapin down to shore of Lake Murray. Tom retired from the ferry in 1916 and moved to Leesville.

Lindler Road

Lillie would have never guessed that her premature three-pound baby, Lallah Belle Lindler, born on July 15, 1916, would have a road named after her. But her name now graces a road in Gilbert.

Lallah grew up in Chapin, married George Drafts, and moved to Lexington. In 1941, she was cured of an infection by the new miracle drug, penicillin. Thank you to Ervin and Betty Shaw of Lexington for recording her story.

Roads Named for Old Destinations

Other roads were named for where they took the travelers. Before the Lake Murray Dam was finished and the reservoir was filled in 1927, the Old Chapin Road in Lexington went to Chapin, and Old Lexington Road in Chapin went to Lexington.

Gilbert Hollow Road in present-day Gilbert was named after Jonathon Gilbert in 1782. Chapin resident James Franklin Wessinger, part of the Wessinger family for which Wessinger Road is named, told the Chronicle that the road in Chapin also used to be called Gilbert Hollow Road because that was the road’s destination.

Railroads Inspired Town Names

The Columbia, Newberry and Laurens Railroad helped name Chapin and Irmo. C. J. Iredell and H. C. Mosely were the two railroad depot officials. Railroad engineers combined Iredell’s and Moseley’s names, and “Irmo” became a train stop.

Irmo officially became a town on Dec. 24, 1890.

Martin Chapin came down from New York to relieve his lung ailment. His doctor’s prescription was to live in an area with lots of pine trees and smoke pinetar. Chapin gave the right away for the CNL’s railroad to go through his property next to his sawmill. The area was thus dubbed Chapin and the town officially incorporated on Christmas Eve 1889.