People across the South often have to shop in convenience stores, such as this one in Estill, S.C., because their rural town doesn’t have a grocery store. Estill, a town of about 2,000 located in rural Hampton County, is lucky to have an IGA store in addition to the Mid-Mart. Towns like Greeleyville, S.C., no longer have a grocery store.
Hampton County, located in the southern part of South Carolina, was home to 21,090 people in 2010, about 4,000 fewer than a century earlier. More. Some 22.6 percent of Hampton County residents live below the poverty line. Hampton’s annual Watermelon Festival is the state’s longest, continually-running festival.
Photo by Andy Brack, Sept. 22, 2013. All rights reserved.