The Kingdom of Happy Land

Freed slaves founded the Kingdom of Happy Land in the 1870’s near today’s Lake Summit. With money they earned as porters carrying packages up the mountain to Saluda, they bought land from the Davis family’s plantation, Oakland.  There is little documentation about the Kingdom and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish myths from facts.   Census data show that all of the families known to have lived in Happy Land came from South Carolina, with many of them coming from Cross Anchor in Southern Spartanburg County.

 

https://www.charlestonmercury.com/single-post/african-american-history-in-henderson-county-part-one

 

https://conservingcarolina.org/ronnie-pepper/

 

https://scalawagmagazine.org/2019/09/black-appalachia-kingdom/

 

https://mountainx.com/news/community-news/0207happyland-php/

 

https://www.smliv.com/stories/the-kingdom-of-the-happy-land/

 

https://www.blueridgenow.com/news/20190210/beyond-banks-promised-land-henderson-countys-storied-kingdom

 

https://www.blueridgenow.com/article/NC/20040216/News/606046189/HT

 

https://www.blueridgenow.com/article/NC/20120219/News/606020952/HT

 

http://randomconnections.com/seeking-the-kingdom-of-happy-land/