Have you ever wanted to enjoy a fun beach day on the lake and do some fun outdoor swimming activities? Have you ever arrived at said lake and worried about dying? Have you ever arrived at said lake and been swimming and felt your leg hit something a bit too solid? And have you ever taken a peek under the water to see something utterly horrifying? Buildings, stores, churches, streets, cars, an entire city. All under your very own local lake. Welcome to Lake Lanier, Gwinnett County, Georgia, more formally, and previously, known as Oscarville, Forsyth County, Georgia.

Have you ever hated a person or even a group of people so much you wanted them to just disappear? Apparently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has, and they did. In just a little over 50 years they managed to run out every Black resident of the town, and flood it. They didn’t even care to remove the entire still-standing town underneath. Since then anywhere from 500-700 people have died in Lake Lanier, key word being “died” not “drowned.” Various deaths have occurred in and on the lake for various reasons, from boat fires and disappearances, to car crashes into the water. But drowning is the least of your concerns when swimming here.

Forsyth County, Oscarville, GA 1912 – How A thriving Georgian Black community was placed underwater due to misguided hate and raging racism. 

Nineteen-year-old Mae Crow, a white woman, was found dead in the nearby woods. She was brutally sexually assaulted and killed, and Forsyth County Sheriff Bill Reid had chosen to arrest Rob Edwards, Ernest Knox, and Oscar Daniel. They were the chosen targets for blame of the attack.

Lynching was a common form of public execution used by white mobs to control Black populations at the time. Edwards was not an exception. Edwards was hanged by an all-white mob known as the “Night Riders” in the middle of the town, while Knox and Daniel were charged by an all-white jury and later executed for their said crime of murdering Crow. This only escalated and caused the racism problem to continue.

Somewhere nearby.

Ellen Grace, 22. While her husband was away, a black man entered her home and attacked her, or so she claims. When her husband returns he and other men gather to search for the attacker, and they find him: Toney Howell, also 22. He is the attacker, or so they claim. The same sheriff, Reid, arrested him and four others: Isaiah Pirkle, 35, Joe Rogers, 24, Fate Chester (Unknown), and Johnny Bates (Unknown). When the white residents discovered the names of the attackers and where they’re held up, the nearby jail, they form a mob. They beat the local Black reverend for defending the accused men on the courthouse steps. Reid and his Deputy, Gay Lummus, come aid him and attempt to relocate the mob. They shelter him inside the courthouse. The local Black population and an all-Black organization set out for the courthouse after hearing the news. Of course, when Black people gather for justice of the wrongly convicted in the 1910s, it meant they were dangerous and a threat to the general population. A rumor spread. They were said to have had bombs and dynamite, although this was obviously untrue.

While they made their way to the courthouse, more heavily armed white men make their way to the courthouse due to the previously mentioned rumor and how susceptible people in a panic are to propaganda. Little did they know that the same courthouse they were soon to be in the middle of had an estimated 500, likely armed, white men and women awaiting them. They chase the Black men and women away while the mayor, Charlie Harris, attempts to calm them. Despite his attempts to return them to their homes, they refused. So the mayor reaches the Georgia governor, Joseph Brown, telling him to send the national guard to remove the mob. The closest National Guard units were 62 miles away in Marietta, and by the time they arrived the mob had disappeared. While this was occurring, nearby the Crow case was being investigated, Knox was forced into a confession by the Klu Klux Klan and Night Riders.

A mob of 2000 white men and women dragged his body through the streets, according to a news article. The other “accomplices” started their court trial on October 3, 1912. By the end of 1912, Forsyth residents had pushed almost all black residents out of the town, from a thriving population of 1100 to near zero.