Poinsett Bridge

The oldest bridge in South Carolina, built in 1820 and designed by Robert Mills. Conde Nast Traveler ranked it among the 30 most haunted places in America, which is quite a distinction for a bridge.

Poinsett Bridge is the oldest surviving bridge in South Carolina and possibly in the entire southeastern United States, built in 1820 as part of the State Road connecting Columbia to the mountains along the Old Buncombe Road. Many historians attribute the design to Robert Mills, the state architect who also designed the Washington Monument, though some dispute this. The bridge is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, the South Carolina statesman who served as the first U.S. Minister to Mexico and later as Secretary of War, and who championed the road-building project as president of the Board of Public Works. The fourteen-foot Gothic-arched bridge spans a small creek in a remote wooded area near Landrum, and its pointed stone arch is one of only a handful of Gothic-style bridges surviving from the early American period.

The bridge's reputation has earned it a spot among the thirty most haunted locations in America according to Conde Nast Traveler. The most commonly reported phenomenon involves vehicles that won't start after visitors park and turn off their engines in the small lot near the bridge. Multiple people have described the same thing -- they explore the bridge, come back to the car, and the ignition just won't turn over. The vehicles start fine once pushed or towed a short distance away.

After dark, the bridge and surrounding forest produce a concentrated range of strange phenomena. Screams have been heard echoing through the woods with no identifiable source. Strange lights appear among the trees and around the arch, floating and moving in patterns that don't match anything natural. Visitors have felt someone touch their arm or shoulder while standing near the bridge, and some have seen white figures in the darkness. The temperature drops suddenly in the humid Upstate air, and an overwhelming feeling of unease settles over many visitors as they approach after nightfall.

The legends around the haunting vary. Some stories connect the ghosts to travelers who died along the Old Buncombe Road, which was a dangerous route through the mountains used by settlers, drovers, and merchants. Others link the activity to Masonic symbolism some observers see in the Gothic arch, suggesting the structure was designed with occult significance. A darker legend tells of a man who was murdered and thrown from the bridge, his spirit now trapped at the site. Whatever the origin, the concentration of independent reports from visitors who experience the same things -- cars that won't start, ghostly touches, white figures in the woods -- makes Poinsett Bridge hard to dismiss.

Today the bridge is part of the Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve, managed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The preserve offers hiking trails through the surrounding forest, and the bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.