This floral, colorful 1970s 7-Up sign outside the old Pen Davis Grocery south of Bowman, S.C., on U.S. Highway 178 evokes an uplifting sense of days gone by, despite the slow decay of the store.
The abandoned rural store, which sports at least two “no trespassing” signs, is in Orangeburg County, home too more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black. The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent. The City of Orangeburg, known for its gardens and historically black colleges, officially is home to 13,850 people and has a 31.3 poverty rate in 2012, but the greater area has more than 65,000 people. Bowman, by contrast, has just under 1,000 people.
Copyrighted photo was taken April 23, 2014 by Andy Brack. All rights reserved.