Why Men Secretly Left the Train Here | 1909

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]At a lonely railroad stop in the South Carolina countryside, people once stepped off trains carrying satchels into the darkness. In 1909, a tiny flag station called Ashley sat quietly along the railroad between Blackville and Barnwell, South Carolina. There wasn't much there, just tracks, pinewoods, and a secluded stop out in the countryside.

[00:00:23]You see, Ashley had become part of a covert liquor route. Instead of getting off at the larger depots, some passengers rode the train out to this lonely request stop. Then, using bags and satchels, they carried liquor, legally bought [music] at the dispensary in Salley, across the countryside on foot. Their objective in all this? To avoid the local sheriff and his deputies. Today, almost nothing remains of the old railroad stop. But for a time, and a decade before the prohibition, people disappeared from those trains into the Carolina pinewoods >> [music] >> carrying whiskey through the night. If you enjoy stories like this, you're always welcome at Hearthside History.