Featured – Page 23 – Building a better South

March 3, 2014March 5, 2014

Coosawatchie River, S.C.

The Coosawatchee River meanders under an I-95 bridge. — The Coosawatchie River meanders under an I-95 bridge.

The Coosawatchie River in Jasper County flows under a bridge that’s part of Interstate 95. The interstate defines much of South Carolina’s Corridor of Shame, an area of high poverty and low educational attainment that stretches along the highway.

Jasper County, population 25,833, is just over the river from Savannah, Ga. Its location near the metro area likely is why poverty in Jasper County (21.4 percent) is half that of Allendale County to the north. However, parts of the county around Ridgeland and the nearby river, which are further away from the Savannah area, feature a lot of the same strife as in Allendale County.

QuickFacts about Jasper County from the U.S. Census.

March 1, 2014February 27, 2014

Pool hall for sale, Dublin, Ga.

Just down the street from the tallest building in Dublin, Ga. — the closed old First National Bank — sits this empty pool hall on Madison Street. It is sandwiched between two other buildings that look like they’ve been closed for a long time.

Dublin suffered during the recent recession as the unemployment rate for Laurens County, where Dublin (population 16,201) is the county seat, rose to 13.8 percent in July 2011. Two years later it was about two points lower, but was down to 9.4 percent in December 2013, according to federal government data found at this site.

Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty, according to Census data

February 27, 2014

Closed chicken joint, Dublin, Ga.

Empty fast-food chicken joint, Dublin, Ga.

This fried chicken outlet on Telfair Street in Dublin, Ga., is one of many buildings that closed during the recession. The unemployment rate for Laurens County, where Dublin (population 16,201) is the county seat, rose to 13.8 percent in July 2011. Two years later it was about two points lower, but was down to 9.4 percent in December 2013, according to federal government data found at this site.

Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty, according to Census data

February 25, 2014

Empty bank, Dublin, Ga.

Look closely at the top of the six-story brick building on South Jefferson Street in Dublin, Ga., and you can barely make out the words “Citizens and Southern Bank.”

The now-empty building, built around 1910 (“MCMX”), has boards on some windows; others are open without glass. The bank, apparently the tallest building between Macon and Savannah, started out as the First National Bank, according to the letters carved over the front door. By the time the bank was built, Dublin had emerged from obscurity after the Civil War into one of the largest cities in Georgia, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Other interesting facts about Dublin:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his first public speech at the First African Baptist Church in Dublin when he was 14. You can seek King celebrated in the right side of the picture as part of the town’s Black History Month observation.
Baseball manager Earl Weaver, who ended up in the Hall of Fame, once was a player-manager for the Dublin Orioles, a Class D minor league team in the city.
During World War II, Dublin was home to a prisoner-of-war camp of captured Germans and Italians.

Dublin (population 16,201) is the county seat for Laurens County. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.

February 23, 2014November 16, 2014

Livery, Mayesville, S.C.

The old Livery Stable in Mayesville, S.C., appears to be undergoing renovation, retired editor and photographer Linda W. Brown writes. The livery is across the railroad right-of-way from the Kineen Hotel, pictured earlier in the month.

Sumter County’s Mayesville, population 731, grew up along the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad, she writes.

“It reached its heyday at the turn of the 20th Century with two banks, a hotel and various other businesses associated with a farming and railroad community. What remains of the Kineen Hotel still stands, but is in very bad repair. The old railroad bed has been removed and the old railroad right-of-way now serves as green space thought the center of town.”

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 Mayesville. Poverty there has been estimated to be 36.5 percent for all, but 49.5 percent for children under 18.

February 21, 2014February 21, 2014

Old farmhouse, near Dexter, Ga.

Here’s the old farmhouse near Dexter, Ga., that fronts the privy mentioned in the previous post. As you can see, the front of the house rests on a pile of concrete blocks, but the back of the house is on newer brick supports.

Dexter has about 500 people and is a few miles southwest of Dublin, the county seat for Laurens County. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.

February 19, 2014February 19, 2014

Old privy, near Dexter, Ga.

There’s no telling how old this privy is outside an old farmhouse just north of Dexter, Ga., in Laurens County. The unpainted house had some signs that someone might have been restoring it awhile back (new brick foundation in the rear; random concrete blocks at front holding up building.) But there was no electricity going into the place on Georgia Highway 257 near Dexter’s new water tower.

Just beyond the privy, you can see a small grove of seven mature pecan trees with a field in the rear.

Dexter has about 500 people and is a few miles southwest of Dublin, the county seat for Laurens County. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.

February 17, 2014

Familiar scene

This scene of a flat Interstate highway could be anywhere. On Interstate 16 near Savannah? Or on Interstate 26 near Charleston? Maybe Interstate 55 in Mississippi or 65 in Alabama? How about I-40 near Wilmington? (Answer: I-16 at Exit 132, Ash Branch Church Road in Bryan County just north of Pembroke, Ga.)

What’s so familiar about the scene is that there are miles and miles of little development between large cities. Over the last 50 years, Interstates connected America in new ways never imagined years earlier, but that connectedness started an outpouring of talent and people from rural areas to cities and the suburbs. Bryan County, which is in Savannah’s metro area, has a poverty rate of 14.7 percent.

February 15, 2014

Kineen Hotel, Mayesville, S.C.

This two-story brick hotel in Mayesville, S.C., is a shadow of its former self. Intricate glasswork hangs awry alongside broken windows. Second-floor windows are boarded-up. The first floor is virtually gutted.

Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown captured this shot earlier this month on a trip through the Sumter County town. Mayesville, population 731, grew up along the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad, she writes.

February 13, 2014February 12, 2014

Jesus sign, Dudley, Ga.

You can’t miss this sign in Dudley, Ga., that VanishingSouthGeorgia.com Brian Brown calls “Roadside Religion.”

Better South President Andy Brack remembers Dudley as a home to a great aunt who passed away a few years back. Dudley, home to fewer than 500 people, is in Laurens County in the middle of Georgia. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.