Abandoned Towns

Former town · nothing left · Forsyth County, Georgia

Oscarville

A farm district in north Forsyth County whose Black residents were expelled in 1912, now remembered as the town under Lake Lanier.

34°14′54″N 83°58′30″W
Nothing left

Nothing is known to survive of the Oscarville of 1912. Its Black families were driven out that autumn, and the crossroads that kept the name sits on a ridge above Lake Lanier, not under it. USGS maps of 1964 and 1999 print "Oscarville" at about 1,190 feet, some 120 feet above the lake's full pool.

The label

Why Oscarville is called a ghost town

Oscarville is in Wikipedia's ghost towns category, and the list of ghost towns in Georgia gives its status as "Submerged", flooded when Lake Lanier was made. The Lake Lanier website's history page tells the same story: a historically Black town of about 250 families on land the lake now covers.

The expulsion it rests on is real. What the record does not support is the town under the water. The Atlanta History Center (March 12, 2023) calls Oscarville a small community in the New Bridge district and counts 513 people in that district in 1910, of whom 37 were Black. Wikipedia, citing other writers, gives about 1,100 residents in 1911. The two figures can't both describe the same place, and we found no census count for Oscarville itself. On the map, the crossroads named Oscarville is dry ground: the USGS put the name on a 1,188-foot hilltop in 1964, after the lake was full, and again in 1999.

History

Oscarville then

Oscarville grew up in the 1800s as a farming community in northeastern Forsyth County, near the Chattahoochee River and the Hall County line. In September 1912 two accusations against Black men set off the violence that emptied the county. On September 9 a search party found Mae Crow mortally injured in the woods near her home by Oscarville. The next day a white mob of at least 2,000 men stormed the Cumming jail and lynched Rob Edwards, one of the men held. Crow died on September 23. Ernest Knox and Oscar Daniel were convicted by all-white juries in early October and hanged before thousands on October 25.

Through those weeks white vigilantes used threats and arson, burning churches and raiding homes, to drive Black families out of Forsyth County. Many fled across the river to Gainesville. Land they left was sold cheaply or lost. Decades later the Corps of Engineers bought land along the Chattahoochee for Buford Dam: ground was broken on March 1, 1950, the dam was closed on February 1, 1956, and the lake reached full pool, 1,067.77 feet, on August 1, 1958. Low ground around Oscarville went under; the hilltop crossroads did not.

1891. The USGS Gainesville sheet shows the river crossings at Browns Bridge and Williams Ferry; no Oscarville is printed.

1910. Census: 513 people in the New Bridge district, which includes Oscarville; 37 are Black (Atlanta History Center).

1912. September 9: Mae Crow is found near her home. September 10: Rob Edwards is lynched in Cumming. October 25: Knox and Daniel are hanged. Black families are driven from the county.

1950. Ground is broken for Buford Dam on March 1.

1956. The dam is closed on February 1 and the lake begins to fill.

1958. Lake Lanier reaches full pool on August 1.

1964. The USGS Flowery Branch sheet prints Oscarville at a hilltop crossroads above the lake.

1999. The revised sheet still prints Oscarville there, now with GA 369 and long farm buildings.

Today

What is there now

The point the USGS names Oscarville is a crossroads where Waldrip Circle leaves Browns Bridge Road (GA 369), about 12 miles by road from Cumming. The 1999 Flowery Branch sheet shows houses and long farm buildings there, with arms of Lake Lanier within a mile to the east and west, and current USGS aerial imagery shows the same mix of homes, pasture, storage buildings and newer subdivisions. We found no marker, standing building or cemetery documented as part of the 1912 community. Everything at the crossroads is private property; you can drive through on GA 369 but there is nothing to stop and see. The lake's public shore is at the Corps of Engineers' access points nearby, such as Williams Ferry on the 1964 and 1999 maps.

Historic maps

Oscarville on USGS maps, 1891–1999

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the map point. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Oscarville, 1891
Gainesville sheet, 1891, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Both routes reach the crossroads named Oscarville on Browns Bridge Road (GA 369) by way of GA 400 and Keith Bridge Road. There is nothing of 1912 to see there, and the land around it is private.

USGS topographic map of Lake Lanier around the Oscarville crossroads, with the drive routes from Cumming and Atlanta

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL). Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Cumming12.2 miabout 18 min
  1. From North Main Street in Cumming, follow GA 20 (Canton Highway, West Maple Street) and Bald Ridge Marina Road to GA 400.1.8 mi
  2. Take GA 400 (Turner McDonald Parkway) north.2.8 mi
  3. Leave at exit 17 and turn right on Keith Bridge Road (GA 306).1.3 mi
  4. Turn right on Browns Bridge Road (GA 369).6.0 mi
  5. Turn right on Waldrip Circle at the crossroads.0.2 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and visiting notes

  • All the land at the crossroads is private property.
  • Lake Lanier's shoreline is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; use its public access points.

Questions

Common questions

Is Oscarville under Lake Lanier?

Not the crossroads that carries the name. USGS maps of 1964 and 1999 print Oscarville on a hilltop at about 1,190 feet, above the lake's 1,067.77-foot full pool. Low farmland around it was flooded after the dam closed in 1956, and many accounts call the whole town drowned; the Atlanta History Center (2023) describes a small community in the New Bridge district.

What happened to Oscarville's Black residents?

In September and October 1912, after the lynching of Rob Edwards and the hanging of Ernest Knox and Oscar Daniel, white vigilantes used threats and arson to drive Black families out of Forsyth County (Atlanta History Center, 2023).

Can you visit Oscarville?

You can drive through the crossroads on GA 369, but the land is private and nothing of the 1912 community is documented there.

Nearby

Ghost towns and sites near Oscarville

Straight-line distance to other mapped sites in our Georgia index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Sophia Dodd, "Forsyth 1912: A Timeline of the Forced Exile of Black Residents From Forsyth County", Atlanta History Center, March 12, 2023: Oscarville in the New Bridge district, the 1910 district census, the dated events of September and October 1912, the arson and threats.
  2. Patrick Phillips, "The Events of 1912 Explained", Atlanta History Center, November 11, 2024: the two accusations and the exodus of families.
  3. Wikipedia, "Oscarville, Georgia", read October 29, 2026: founding in the 1800s, the 1911 figure, Mae Crow found near Oscarville, flight to Gainesville, lost land, the ghost towns category.
  4. Wikipedia, "List of ghost towns in Georgia", read October 29, 2026: status "Submerged".
  5. Lake Lanier, "History", read October 29, 2026: the drowned-town account, Buford Dam ground-breaking, closure and full-pool dates and level, Corps of Engineers ownership.
  6. USGS GNIS, "Oscarville" (326442): coordinates of the populated place.
  7. USGS topographic maps: Gainesville 1891, Flowery Branch 1964 and 1999 (public domain): the crossroads and its elevation above the lake. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits