The Center for a Better South
Photographer Linda W. Brown snapped this holiday scene in her hometown of Kingstree, S.C., the governmental seat of Williamsburg County.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our photos of the Southern Crescent region throughout 2014 and look forward to providing you with more compelling imagery over the next year. Happy holidays!
Photo is copyrighted by Linda W. Brown. All rights reserved.
VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown snapped a photo of this tar-paper house in rural Gough, Ga., last month.
Gough (pronounced “GOFF”), 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.
Photo taken in by Brian Brown. Copyrighted; all rights reserved.
VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown writes, “The white building in the foreground is the Gough Lodge of the Prince Hall Masons, an African-American fraternal association. Agricultural warehouses can be seen in the distance.”
Gough (pronounced “GOFF”), 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.
Photo taken in by Brian Brown. Copyrighted; all rights reserved.
VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown says this store is a step back in time, with its old Coca-Cola sign and gas pumps right at the front door. “There’s also a restaurant next door, though I’m not sure if it’s open. The store was quite busy, though. It was late in the afternoon so the light was a bit harsh.”
Gough (pronounced “GOFF”), 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.
Photo taken in by Brian Brown. Copyrighted; all rights reserved.
VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown says this old vernacular church, likely from the turn of the last century, is on private property near Gough, Ga., but can be seen from the road.
Gough (pronounced “GOFF”), 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.
Photo taken in by Brian Brown. Copyrighted; all rights reserved.
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.
Photo taken in by Brian Brown. Copyrighted; all rights reserved.
Legendary architect Robert Mills, who designed the Washington Monument, also designed the courthouse in Williamsburg County, S.C. (above). The ground floor of the building, built in 1823, is part of the original structure, writes photographer Linda W. Brown of Kingstree, S.C.
In 2013, the building got a much-needed renovation as part of an extensive capital project made possible by the federal stimulus program. In addition to the courthouse renovation, the county built a new county administration building, a new jail, a new 911 center and a new animal shelter.
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.
Copyrighted photo taken in 2014 by Linda W. Brown All rights reserved.
This fading old Coca Cola sign is on the side of a brick building in Soperton, Ga., a town of just over 3,000 people in Truetlen County in the middle of Georgia. VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown says it’s part of an ad for horses and mules.
According to a post on Brown’s site, the top of the sign was covered by a Firestone sign until just a few years ago. The building most recently housed a retail business that had the franchises for Firestone tires, Snapper, Zenith, GE and more. The original building reportedly was a horse and mule operation owned by a local political and business leader.
The county is home to about 6,700 people, two-thirds of whom are white. Some 26 percent of the population live at or below the federal poverty line. In the town of Soperton, more than 31 percent of people live below the poverty line.
Copyrighted photo by Brian Brown. All rights reserved.
Pinewood, population 538 in rural Sumter County, S.C., has this old, restored railroad depot, which is similar to ones we’re showcased in the past from Salters, S.C., and Leary, Ga.
Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown says this news story from 202 highlights the depot’s restoration.
Sumter County, which is home to Shaw Air Force Base, is comprised of 108,052 people. Just under 50 percent are white; 47 percent are black. The poverty rate is estimated to be 18.2 percent in the county, but it is a much higher percentage in places like Pinewood.
Copyrighted photo by Linda W. Brown. All rights reserved.
Trees shelter a vintage barn in Clarendon County, S.C., off Newman Branch Road.
Clarendon County has 34,357 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 population estimate. About half of the county’s residence are white; the other half are black.
Photo taken in 2014 by Linda W. Brown. Copyrighted; all rights reserved.