Manning

The community of Manning grew up around the operations of the Carter-Kelley Lumber Company, established here about 1906. The town was named for D. W. W. Manning (b. 1820) who started a sawmill here in 1867. By 1929 Manning had a population of 1300 and included a movie theater, a school, stores, churches, a post office, and a railroad depot. The town began to decline after a fire destroyed the mill in the mid-1930s, and operations were moved to Camden (30 mi. W). The townsite is now marked by homes, sawmill ruins, and a cemetery. (1980, 1995) Supplemental plaque: This house and what was left of Manning after the mill fire of 1936 were bought by Morgan M. Flournoy. Here he and his wife Ruby raised five children.