Alcolu is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Clarendon County, South Carolina, United States.

When it was built, Alcolu was a company town where everybody worked in one of the various businesses of D.W. Alderman & Sons.

Over time, the company helped found schools and churches, and built baseball fields, an electric plant, and a telephone system for the town.

There they could buy groceries, see the doctor, get a haircut, or watch a show in the 200-seat auditorium upstairs.

Notably, 14-year-old George Stinney was wrongly found guilty of their murder and became the youngest person to be executed in the United States since 12-year old Hannah Ocuish in 1786.

U.S. Route 521 runs through Alcolu, leading south to Manning and northwest 16 miles (26 km) to Sumter.