Kingdom of the Happy Land by Gary Carden. Acrylic on canvas, 36”x24”. Source

The Kingdom of Happy Land was a settlement of freed slaves on the North Carolina/South Carolina border near Tuxedo, North Carolina. The Kingdom had a King and Queen, and was operated as a socialistic society with all sharing equally.

Resources:

• Blog Post - Seeking the Kingdom of Happy Land
• Happy Land - Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• Interview with Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• Happy Land Liniment
• Serepta Merritt Davis Grave
• Google Search

Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, was the first town in the United States governed by freed slaves. It was part of the Port Royal Experiment.

Partial list of links:

• Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park
• Archeology at Mitchelville
• Mitchelville: Experiment in Freedom
• The archaeological manifestations of the "Port Royal Experiment" at Mitchelville, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Instead of towns that disappeared, today we look at towns that never existed. Through my research I’ve found four categories of these so-called Paper Towns

1. A town planned out on paper that never really took off.
2. A town that was never meant to exist, but was advertised simply as a scam for investors.
3. An area incorporated for political reasons, such as a town on the edge of a larger town incorporated to prevent annexation into the larger town. The town provides no services, but exists on paper only.
4. A copyright trap.

Links to more information:

• Kingsberry
  • Find-a-Grave
  • Kingsberry article by Louise Pettus
  • Landsford Canal Lock Keeper's House - Library of Congress
• Paper Town Copyright Traps
  • Phantom Settlements
  • What Is a Paper Town?