Campville, founded about 1881, never a large town (some estimates that it reached a peak of 250), was largely centered around one family (Camp) and one industry (brick making). The original family home still exists, but the brick factory has been torn down. The post office was decommissioned in 1966, and the RR depot is long gone.
Like many "company" towns, there was a need for cheap labor, so many blacks were employed in the brick factory, and in the various other Camp family enterprises. This included the construction of the Camp Canal that allowed movement of small barges carrying bricks to move from Newnan's Lake through Paynes Prairie to eventually reach Orange Lake. These famillies lived on the east side of what is now US 301, had their own chuch (south of this site) and two cemeteries (northeast). Whites lived mainly on the west side of the road, or north of CR 1474.
Travel to and from the surrounding towns of Windsor, Orange Heights, Beckhamton, or Hawthorne (also Earleton or Morriston Mills) would have generally been on foot, horseback, or wagon. Travel further would have often included riding on the Peninsular RR (later part of the Plant System, and now owned by CSX). A short siding to the east picked up bricks, and extended a short distance further to pick up cattle or timber.