These old buildings along U.S. Highway 178 just south of the town limits of Bowman, S.C., are abandoned, given up to invading vines, trees and neglect. You can imagine how they were busy in their heyday when small-farm agriculture boomed.
The red-brick-colored buildings are 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, chartered in 1894, has just under 1,000 people.
Copyrighted photo was taken April 23, 2014 by Andy Brack. All rights reserved.