Featured – Page 34 – Building a better South

July 13, 2013July 13, 2013

Presidential classroom, Plains, Ga.

: Classroom, Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, Plains, Ga. Photo by Michael Kaynard.

Former President Jimmy Carter went to school in this Plains, Ga., classroom at Plains High School, now the museum and visitors’ center at the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site.

To our knowledge, this is the only federal presidential historic site in the Southern Crescent. All over town, it’s easy to see commonalities with other rural communities across the Crescent — small-town life dominated by agriculture and a close-knit community.

Photographer Michael Kaynard noted, “There is a block of tourist businesses just down from the train depot Carter used as his campaign headquarters. Other attractions include his boyhood farm, Plains High School, Billy Carter’s gas station, Rosalynn Carter’s family home and the private Carter compound. Some of the land is being used for agriculture but it would be bypassed except for its ties to the President and his family.”

Plains, whose public school system was absorbed into that of nearby Americus and Sumter County, had 776 people in 2010, according to the Census. Three in five residents are black, with whites comprising almost all of the rest. About a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line.

July 11, 2013July 11, 2013

Empty car dealership, Claxton, Ga.

Claxton, Ga., known for its fruitcakes and annual rattlesnake roundup, is one of many rural Southern towns that features an empty, old car dealership. In the background, you can see the town’s main stoplight at the intersection of Main and Duval streets, also known as the crossing of U.S. highways 301 and 280.

Some of the businesses in towns like Claxton moved out of the central business district to the outskirts to capitalize on Wal-Marts that drained downtown activity. Some of them just closed.

Claxton, county seat for Evans County, is located about 50 miles west of Savannah, Ga.

While Claxton has about 2,200 residents, Evans County is home to an estimated 10,689 residents, a slight drop from the 11,000 people recorded in the 2010 Census. Some 22 percent of Evans County residents live below the federal poverty level. The average per capita income is $18,547.

QuickFacts from the U.S. Census

July 9, 2013July 13, 2013

Storm-damaged old building, Kingstree, S.C.

Hampton Avenue building, Kingstree, S.C. Photo by Linda W. Brown, all rights reserved.

This 1904 brick building on Hampton Avenue in Kingstree, S.C., was being renovated for use by the Williamsburg County Department of Social Services when a nasty storm blew in its unbraced side walls on June 9, retired newspaper editor Linda W. Brown tells us.

“That debris crushed the two small buildings beside it — one of which was used by a tax preparation service; the other was empty. The building adjacent to the smashed buildings belongs to the Williamsburg Historical Society. It, too, was damaged.”

Taking the photo of the damage was tough, Brown said, “because in the past 10 years, we have lost five buildings on that block to fire and two other buildings have collapsed. None of those buildings has been replaced.”

When the three-story structure that suffered damage was built 109 years ago, it was the Kingstree Hardware Company.

“The hardware store was on the first floor and there was a funeral home in one of the upper stories. The building later housed department stores, but had been vacant for a number of years. It is one of 48 properties on the National Historic Register as part of the Kingstree Historic District.” Despite damage, renovations are expected to continue.

Rural Southern communities face major challenges in finding money to preserve significant old structures that can boost their attractiveness to tourists and smaller companies that want to relocate in an historic setting.

Williamsburg County, located in the middle of the Southern Crescent, is about 75 miles north of Charleston, S.C. Just under 34,000 people live in the county, which is about the number who lived there around the time that the Hampton Avenue building was constructed, 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.

Williamsburg County on Wikipedia.

QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.

July 7, 2013July 13, 2013

Old one-room school, Montgomery County, Ga.

Old Memory Schoolhouse, Montgomery County, Ga., by Brian Brown. All rights reserved.

This decaying, tin-roofed building apparently is a one-room school remembered as the old “Memory School” northeast of Mount Vernon, Ga., in rural Montgomery County.

Vanishing South Georgia photographer Brian Brown, who snapped the shot last month along Thompson Pond Road, says, “I first thought it looked like a farmhouse, but these small rural schools often look like this.”

These days, Montgomery County and the area around

ount Vernon seem strapped, but interestingly, the population is about 50 percent bigger than it was in the late 1960s when Brack visited. In 2012, the estimated population was just under 9,000 — some 3,000 more people than in the 1970 Census. More.

Some 21.6 percent of people in the county live at or below the federal poverty level.

July 5, 2013July 13, 2013

Old farmhouse, Montgomery County, Ga.

South Georgia photographer Brian Brown enjoys snapping pictures of old farmhouses on his great site, Vanishing South Georgia. This board-and-batten farmhouse on the Mount-Vernon-Alston road in the Georgia heartland is typical, he writes on his site:

“This is one of the largest concentrations I’ve found of this iconic early South Georgia style. … I’d advise anyone who likes historic rural architecture who happens to be in the area of Montgomery County to find these roads. The structures located on them represent a quickly vanishing aspect of South Georgia’s agricultural heritage.”

These days, Montgomery County and the area around Mount Vernon seem strapped, but interestingly, the population is about 50 percent bigger than it was in the late 1960s when Brack visited. In 2012, the estimated population was just under 9,000 — some 3,000 more people than in the 1970 Census. More.

Some 21.6 percent of people in the county live at or below the federal poverty level.

July 3, 2013July 13, 2013

Old stores, Mount Vernon, Ga.

These two old buildings on Church Street in downtown Mount Vernon, Ga., caught the eye of photographer Michael Kaynard. Both seem to be old stores. the left of which seems to be re-purposed as a hair salon. The right one appeared empty.

Kaynard observed that people in Montgomery County seemed proud of the renovation of the county courthouse, which was nearby. But in the square around the courthouse, there weren’t many active businesses. “I spoke with a young woman in city hall and two of the businesses I asked about had been closed since before she arrived there” several years back, he said.

Georgia photographer Brian Brown of VanishingSouthGeorgia.com also enjoy these two Church Street buildings, saying here that they’re his two favorites in Mount Vernon.

See more of Brown’s photos of Mount Vernon and Montgomery County.

Some 21.6 percent of people in the county live at or below the federal poverty level.

July 1, 2013July 13, 2013

Montgomery Monitor, Mount Vernon, Ga.

As a boy in the late 1960s, photographer and Better South President Andy Brack visited this building a few times a year because his father, Elliott Brack, published “The Montgomery Monitor” every week.

“I’d go with Dad as he made his weekly rounds to get the news to fill up this small paper,” Brack remembers. “There was a nice older lady who worked there every day who would watch me for awhile. On a lot of visits, I’d go across the street and get a haircut that would have passed any military inspection.

“It was fun riding to and from Mount Vernon and seeing all of the different scenes between there and our home in Jesup, some 75 miles to the south. More than anything, those trips outside of Jesup contributed to a lifelong love of open, rural landscapes, like those found throughout the Southern Crescent, and the love of just traveling to see different things.”

Some 21.6 percent of people in the county live at or below the federal poverty level.

June 29, 2013July 13, 2013

At the edge of town, Hampton, S.C.

Pictured above is the old Hampton, S.C., Coca-Cola Bottling plant with the Nevamar Decorative Surfaces factory in the background at right. Nevamar, which makes high-pressure laminates, has more than 400 employees, making it the county’s largest employer.

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

June 27, 2013July 13, 2013

Downtown street work, Hampton, S.C.

Lee Street, Hampton, S.C. Photo by Michael Kaynard, 2013.

A street construction crew worked in May to reconfigure Lee Street to make the downtown area more welcoming to residents and visitors alike. The work was just in time for the community’s 71st Watermelon Festival, an annual event that runs this year through June 30. (Visit the Watermelon Festival Web site.)

Hampton, like many rural Southern towns, is redoing its downtown to make it more attractive for people visiting smaller towns throughout the South. It seems to be working on Lee Street where, on one end of the street, is a funky coffee shop. At the other end is the old art-deco Palmetto Theater operated by the Hampton Arts Council. A resident on the council said its neon looks magnificent at night — and that we should return to see one of its productions.

Hampton County, located in the southern part of the state, was home to 20,090 people in 2010, about 4,000 fewer than a century earlier. More.

June 25, 2013July 13, 2013

To get to the other side, Fitzgerald, Ga.

Yes, this is a photo of one of those crazy Burmese chickens in Fitzgerald, Ga., crossing the road to, ahem, get to the other side. These chickens, pests to some and paragons of community pride to others, roam the town’s downtown streets. While they mostly scamper away from prying photographers, some like this rooster occasionally to taunt vehicles with face-offs on the streets.

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

Links:

Movie from 2011 Wild Chicken Festival
Photos of Fitzgerald from Vanishing South Georgia
Photos from Alfie and Company Photography