BLACKVILLE, SC () – The town of Dunbarton in Barnwell County was one of seven communities where residents were displaced by the Savannah River Project in the early 1950s.
Margaret Rountree lived in Dunbarton as a child and has helped keep the reunions going for more than 7 decades.
The reunion is held every year at the Community Building at Barnwell State Park.
This is the 72nd year of the reunion and Rountree says there are now 3 generations learning about a town that once was.
“When the Savannah River Plant arrived, everyone had to relocate, scattering far and wide. Still, we’ve managed to reunite and rekindle old friendships. There’s a strong desire among us to keep this going to maintain connections among the descendants of the original Dunbarton residents,” Rountree explained.
Dunbarton was not the only town affected by the Savannah River Project, but towns including Ellenton and Meyers Mill as well.
I had the opportunity to speak not only with Margaret but also with the children and grandchildren of those who lived in Dunbarton, including Tony Dicks, who is the President of the Dunbarton Citizens Group.
“It’s good to see it all. I didn’t know what Dunbarton looked like, that was four years prior to me being born but the photographs bring it to me now, I’ve seen some things at my house that we sheds and stuff like that, I never knew where they came from, they had been moved out of Dunbarton because you can see in the photographs on some of the houses and stuff.” Dicks said.
At the reunion, they had pictures of every house that was in the town as well as old yearbooks, newspaper articles and pictures of the townspeople.
Rountree was 20 years old when she and her family were moved out of the town, she reminisced on one of her favorite memories in Dunbarton with her friends.
“That car if you’ll see has running boards and fenders on it and we had more that could get in the car and so they’d hold on to the fenders and the running boards and we’d ride out to the pond, and we would roast weenies and have hotdogs and sometimes boiled peanuts.” said Rountree.
The SRS site now covers over 300 square miles across towns including Aike, Allendale and Barnwell.
Rountree has continued these reunions in honor of those who lived in Dunbarton and their ancestors.
