Andy Brack – Page 7 – Building a better South

April 14, 2015April 15, 2015

Empty store, New Holland Crossroads, S.C.

Abandoned store, New Holland Crossroads, S.C.

This old store is diagonally across the Old Ninety Six Indian Trail from Jackson Hole in the western part of South Carolina. New Holland Crossroads in rural Aiken County, S.C., looks pretty much like a ghost town these days, said photographer Linda W. Brown of Kingstree, S.C.

Aiken County, longtime home of the federal Savannah River Site, is not a Southern Crescent county but it is adjacent to impoverished Barnwell and Orangeburg counties. Rural areas in Aiken County look much like those in the Crescent.

April 9, 2015April 9, 2015

Pastoral scene, Clarendon County, S.C.

Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown observes there are still plenty of working farms in rural South Carolina. These barns are part of a farm in Clarendon County.

April 6, 2015April 9, 2015

Tobacco mural, Hemingway, S.C.

This mural, depicting the hand-harvesting of tobacco and located on Main Street in downtown Hemingway, S.C., is a reminder of the Williamsburg County town’s past as a major tobacco center.

More on Hemingway in this 2013 post.

April 3, 2015April 3, 2015

Old school, Salters, S.C.

Built in 1924, the Salters Brick School in Williamsburg County, S.C., served grades 1-11 when it opened in 1925 with 100 students, photographer Linda W. Brown of Kingstree writes. “After it was consolidated with a larger school, the building was used from the late 1970s to the early 1990s as the hub for Black River Glads, a wholesale gladiolas farming and sales operation. The building is currently for sale.”

April 1, 2015

Rare store, Bulloch County, Ga.

“It’s hard to imagine a time when little stores like this one could be found scattered throughout the countryside,” writes VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown of this Bulloch County, Ga., structure. “As people became more mobile, though, the need for them vanished. To find one in this condition is rare.”

Bulloch County, located in eastern Georgia county along Interstate 16, is deeply in poverty with 31 percent of residents living below the federal poverty line. The county, which has a median household income of $33,902, is home to 72,694 people (2012), two thirds of whom are white.

March 30, 2015April 1, 2015

1940s bus, Ben Hill County, Ga.

VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown spotted this old Studebaker school bus off a dirt road in rural Ben Hill County, Ga. He notes the front end and engine of the bus were built by Studebaker, while the body may have been manufactured by Bluebird in nearby Fort Valley. “The grill style dates the bus to around 1947, but it was likely used well into the 1950s by Ben Hill County.”

Just over 9,000 people live in Fitzgerald, the county seat of rural Ben Hill County. Some 31.6 percent of people in the county live in poverty, according to Census figures. More.

March 27, 2015March 25, 2015

Empty motel, Clarendon County, S.C.

This is one of a number of derelict motels along U.S. Highway 301 in Clarendon County, writes photographer Linda W. Brown of nearby Kingstree, S.C.

“Some of them have been converted into long-term residence facilities for migrant workers—and I think in some cases, people who have had their homes foreclosed on. Others are rotting away.” This one, she noted, appeared to be for sale.

— Copyrighted photo by Linda W. Brown taken March 21, 2015

March 24, 2015March 25, 2015

Old diner, New Holland Crossroads, S.C.

Jackson Hole, New Holland Crossroads, S.C.

This apparently abandoned building is at New Holland Crossroads in Aiken County, S.C., writes photographer Linda W. Brown of Kingstree, S.C.

“There is an old ‘A’ food service rating on the door, so I would guess that it was some sort of eating establishment, or bar that served food, at one time or another,” she observed.

March 18, 2015March 19, 2015

Rusty mailbox, Williamsburg County, S.C.

On S.C. Highway 261 in western Williamsburg County,S.C., this rusty mailbox, though leaning, still serves its purpose, says photographer Linda W. Brown of Kingstree.

March 12, 2015

Ferrell Store, Salters, S.C.

Country stores like this one in the Salters community of Williamsburg County, S.C., are a dying breed.

Kingstree photographer Linda W. Brown writes that J.A. Ferrell opened a store in his Salters home in 1880.

“Some years later, he built this building on the edge of his property and moved the store operations there. He continued to run the store until his death in 1918. Three other merchants have operated a general store on the premises. The last, Frank Moseley, closed the store in 1990.”