Lando School – Lando, South Carolina - Atlas Obscura

Lando School

Lando, South Carolina

An ornate abandoned schoolhouse hidden in the woods near a decaying mill town.  

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The Lando schoolhouse was built in 1904-5 in the Italian Renaissance revival style for the employees of the Manetta Mill. The school was built in an unusually opulent style for a mill town, which is indicative of the prosperity of the area at the time.

The ruins of the Manetta Mills are very near the Lando schoolhouse along Fishing Creek. The town itself is a shadow of its former self since the closing of the mill in 1992, with only a few residents remaining. The schoolhouse itself was closed down in 1955.

The first floor of the schoolhouse contained classrooms, and the second floor was combination classroom and auditorium. The third floor is just balcony seating which overlooks the stage on the second floor below. Today the school sits abandoned and decaying at the end of Schoolhouse Road.

Know Before You Go

The school can be viewed from the road, but trespassing on the property is prohibited.


There are/used to be tour guides who would take you down to the mill next door, to explore the bridge/broken down mill—but now the property and surrounding creek have been bulldozed. The mill ruins are now more exposed, but part of the creek/nature has been bulldozed. 


In addition to such, locals have boarded up the doors/windows to the schoolhouse. 

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June 27, 2023

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