Best photos – Building a better South

February 28, 2015February 25, 2015

Dirt road, Tattnall County, Ga.

VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer offers a simple, satisfying photo of the rural South here with this orange clay-sand road through a field in Tattnall County, Ga.

“In my opinion, there’s no better way of experiencing rural South Georgia’s beautiful countryside than a ramble on a dirt road,” he writes here. We agree and have added this to our list of favorite photos published on this site.

Tattnall County in eastern Georgia just south of Interstate 16, is home to about 25,000 people, some 24 percent of whom live below the federal poverty line including 33 percent of children. It’s county seat is Reidsville, known as home for one of the state’s toughest prisons.

February 8, 2015

Methodist church, Bulloch County, Ga.

Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church in Bulloch County, Ga., dates from a time (1879) when men entered the church through one door, the women through another, notes VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown in this post.

While Bulloch County is home to Georgia Southern University, it is deeply in poverty with 31 percent of residents living below the federal poverty line.

February 4, 2015February 5, 2015

Scott’s, Hemingway, S.C.

Scott's Bar-B-Que, Hemingway, S.C. — Scott’s Bar-B-Que, Hemingway, S.C.

Just looking at this picture by Linda W. Brown excites our taste buds because we know from experience that Rodney Scott makes some of the best barbecue ever.

The Williamsburg County joint, located at Brunson’s Crossroads outside Hemingway, S.C., recently was named the most iconic restaurant in South Carolina by ThrillList. You can learn more about Scott’s tasty barbecue here.

Other iconic Southern restaurants on the list, by state:

Alabama: Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Que, Decatur
Arkansas: McClard’s, Hot Springs
Florida: Joe’s Stone Crab, Miami
Georgia: H&H Soul Food, Macon
Kentucky: Jack Fry’s, Louisville
Louisiana: Commander’s Palace, New Orleans
Mississippi: Mayflower Cafe
North Carolina: Skylight Inn, Ayden
Tennessee: Pancake Pantry, Nashville
Virginia: Pierce’s Pitt Bar-B-Que, Williamsburg

January 29, 2015

Classics, Ben Hill County, Ga.

Classics from two different centuries, Ben Hill County, Ga.

The house, writes photographer VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown, is a classic from the 19th century. The car is a classic from the 1950s. Both are in Ben Hill County in the central part of the state.

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.

December 15, 2014December 15, 2014

Tenant cabin, Gough, Ga.

The owner of this property in rural Burke County, Ga., told VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown that this 19th century tenant cabin is still in use today.

Gough, located about 10 miles west of Waynesboro in eastern central Georgia, is in Burke County, which had about 23,125 people in 2012. The population is evenly split in the numbers of white and black residents (49 percent each). Its population peak was in 1920 when it had almost 31,000 people; its low point was in 1970 when it had 18,255 people.

The county, located between Augusta and Statesboro, has a median household income of $32,188. Some 28.6 percent of people live in poverty, according to a five-year Census estimate.

November 26, 2014November 25, 2014

Closed barber shop, Fairfax, S.C.

Steward's Barber Shop, Fairfax, S.C. — Steward’s Barber Shop, Fairfax, S.C.

As we took a photo of a closed barber shop along U.S. Highway 321 in Fairfax, S.C., you could see a drug deal going on in broad daylight across the street at an intersection.

Fairfax, in rural Allendale County, lost about a third of its population by 2010, which it had 2,025 people compared to 3,206 people in 2000, according to Census figures in Wikipedia. Per capita income was $8,940. About 38 percent of the people in the town, which had about two times as many adult males as females, lived in poverty.

Rural Allendale County in South Carolina’s southwest corner as one of the Crescent’s highest poverty rates — more than 40 percent of people live below the federal poverty level. The median household income is about $23,000 a year — half of South Carolina’s average and well below the nation’s $50,000 average.

More about Allendale County from QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.
More about Fairfax, S.C. in Wikipedia.

November 18, 2014November 19, 2014

Green shutters, Williamsburg County, S.C.

Former editor Linda W. Brown found this old building with fastened green shutters near Workman Crossroads in western Williamsburg County, S.C.

UPDATE: We first ran this picture on Oct. 1, 2013, and offer it today to steer you to a brand new section of the BEST pictures of the Southern Crescent project. Click here and you can find more than 30 of the most compelling images that we’ve offered since we got started more than 18 months ago.

“I’m not sure if this was an old store that had a shed added to it or exactly what its function was,” Brown wrote. “I think it’s a pretty cool old building, whatever its purpose was earlier in its life.”

We wholeheartedly agree. Old buildings like this can be found across the rural South on farmland that has gone fallow and where tenant families moved on a generation or two ago. Or in small towns near railroad tracks that no longer carry trains.

Just under 34,000 people live in Williamsburg County, which is about the number who lived there in 1900, according to Census figures. Population peaked in 1950 at 43,807, but has dropped slowly since then.

About two-thirds of county residents are black, with almost all of those remaining being white. Only 2 percent of those in the county are of Hispanic descent. Some 32.8 percent of residents live in poverty, according to the Census. Of the county’s 1,921 firms, 36.5 percent are black-owned — a percentage that is three times South Carolina’s average.

October 9, 2014November 16, 2014

Vernacular house, Cummings, S.C.

We’re not really sure about the story behind this great, old vernacular house along the railroad tracks in tiny Cummings, S.C., a few miles southeast of Hampton. And while the house is boarded up and front door is open, it seems to still be getting some use as a storage area. No doubt, there a lots of stories that could be told about its better days.

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. The town of Hampton includes a brownfield of a former medical waste incinerator. More.

QuickFacts from the U.S. Census

October 7, 2014November 16, 2014

Old barn, Jacksonboro, S.C.

Old barn in morning light, near Jacksonboro, S.C.

Note how the early morning sunlight made this old barn pop out of the shadows along S.C. Highway 264 near Jacksonboro, S.C., in rural Colleton County.

Along the edge of the Southern Crescent, the barn reflects a time gone by in a county that is poised for growth because of its proximity to Interstate 95 and the Charleston metropolitan area.

Walterboro is the seat of government in Colleton County. It is home to 38,153 people, 21 percent of whom live at or below the federal poverty level.

Quickfacts on Colleton County from the U.S. Census Bureau.

October 1, 2014November 16, 2014

Run-down motel, Allendale, S.C.

Perhaps this image is the perfect characterization of poverty throughout the Southern Crescent. Not only is the word “crescent” misspelled in the sign outside this seemingly-abandoned motel in Allendale, S.C. But upon close scrutiny, it’s clear people are actually living in the rooms of this dilapidated place.

NOTE: This photo originally ran in September 2013, but we’re republishing today to remind people about the depth of poverty throughout the Southern Crescent.

More about Allendale County from QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.