HARLTON COUNTY, GA - History - Race Pond

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RACEPOND, CHARLTON COUNTY, GEORGIA
Mrs. Lydia A. Smith Stone Crews was the owner of old Race
Pond, a peculiarly round cypress pond near the Okefenokee
Swamp and the owner of the village of Racepond, Charlton
County, Georgia.

Her father, William Smith, enlisted in the Militia to fight
in the War against the Seminole Indians about 1836.  The
solders were camped near the old pond hoping to round up as
many of the Seminole Indians as possible and send them to
the Western Reservation.

All of the soldiers had saddle horses that were not only the
singular means of transportation but a source of pride.  To
demonstrate the swiftness of their mounts, the men
constructed a race track around the pond.   In their spare
time, they competed around the track racing their horses.

General Charles Floyd, with this company finally penetrated
the swamp and drove the Seminole Indians out of hiding.
They headed south to the Everglades and their descendants
are still inhabitants of that area.

William Smith and several of the soldiers charmed by the
beauty of the area settled in the section around Racepond.
When Charlton County was incorporated, they became the
leaders of the County.  

Lydia grew up listening to the stories her father told about
his duty in the militia.  He pointed out a grave near the
race track of a soldier who was wounded by the Indians and
died in the camp. Time wore away the fat lightwood markers
on the grave and his name became a passing memory.  [William
Smith was listed on the muster roll of Captain David J.
Miller’s Company of Mounted Men. Captain Miller wrote that
Maxey M. Wilds was killed by the Indians, July 25th, 1838.
Perhaps the grave belonged to him.]

Ref:  McQueen, Alex. S., HISTORY OF CHARLTON COUNTY, (1932)
1988, The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, SC, pp. 122-123.