Manson, North Carolina - Soul City - Unrealized Utopia

I first saw Soul City from a distance in the late 1980s. I'd heard about it in college poli-sci class in the early 80s, but didn't remember a thing except it was in Warren Co NC...My last encounter was a quick drive-thru on my way up I-85 to Va, cir 1997.

This is a sad place. It reminds me of an earlier era that includes the old Soviet Union and Communism as our enemy, when the liberalism of the 70s was strong. Socialism, collectivization experiments and all that "stuff" thats fallen by the wayside. Soul City seems a part of it all. Floyd McKissick had a real dream I guess, but Warren Co was (and is) in the middle of nowhere and in hindsight there was zero hope of attracting any sustaining industry there back then... It's worth a look, as a slice of history, if you're in the area. [Hydro, 01/11/2008]

First Baptist Church of Soul City has been reconstructed and is in operation. There are worship services there every 1, 2 and 4th Sundays at 11:00 am. Bible Study is on Wednesday at 7:00 pm. All are welcome to come and visit with us as we seek first the kingdom of God. [Charles Burwell, 07/29/2005]

I happened to be in the Soul City area today so I popped in for a look. I was suprised to find that someone had done a little maintenance on the Soul City sign. The trees that were obscuring the sign are now either cut back or removed and lights have been installed at the base of the sign. This piqued my curiosity.

Sadly, the rest of Soul City was in the same condition as my last visit. The sportswear company was deserted and there were still miles of roads going nowhere. The First Baptist Church of Soul City had suffered a fire since my last visit but a sign out front read "We are Rebuilding." In the end Soul City still appears to be in much the same state as it was six months ago - just the sign looks better. [Greg Brown, 03/03/2001]

Today some friends and I drove to VA to get lottery tickets (If I win, I don't know ya) and on the way back, my friend drove us through "Soul City," which is now a ghost town, but was once supposedly a government funded community. The sign even says Soul City. I could've sworn I read something about the place in my friend's copy of your Roadside America book, but my meager Internet searches have yielded merely links to record sites and I am so curious about this place that once was. Do you have the scoop on this place? It was so freaky there. Empty factory, tons of empty buildings. If it were out west there would be tumbleweeds floating through the streets. [Eric Willhelm, 05/14/2000]

[RA: Soul City was intended to be a model community where all races could live in harmony, brainchild of minister Floyd McKissick and funded by HUD. Floyd, who died in 1991, envisioned Soul City as home to more than 45,000 by the year 2000.]

I found Soul City yesterday! There really wasn't much to that place but it appears to be going through a growth spurt. There is a Perdue Chicken Hatchery near by as well as an International Paper plant not too far down the road. I estimate there were about 800 or so people living in Soul City, but there are still penty of paved roads going nowhere. Most of the paved back roads appear to be used as places to dump old couches and appliances. The only think I found worth taking a picture of was the big, 20 foot all Soul City sign. [Greg Brown, 05/14/2000]