The Center for a Better South
This old house is across the street from the site of the Battle of Eutaw Springs in rural Orangeburg County, S.C.
The battle site is just outside of Eutawville, a town of about 350 in the eastern part of Orangeburg County near Lake Marion.
Orangeburg County is home to more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black. The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.
Copyrighted photo was taken July 9, 2014 by Andy Brack. All rights reserved.
The Battle of Eutaw Springs (1781) was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War between colonists and the British. The South is filled with historic markers that outline history of the area. In many places, they’re being packaged by state tourism bureaus as history trips.
Today at the site of the battle, just east of the town of Eutawville in Orangeburg County, is a memorial park with information placards that explain what happened. In the background under shade trees, you can see some memorials that honor the combatants.
The descriptive sign in this picture reads:
Victory in Defeat
On the morning of September 8, 1781, General Nathanael Greene’s American army attacked Colonel Alexander Stewart’s British force camped at a plantation near Eutaw Springs. Here two almost evenly matched armies slugged it out in the last major Revolutionary War battle in South Carolina.
In over three hours of brutal combat, American and British forces traded musket volleys and bayonet charges. Greene’s troops drove the British back into their camp, but the British regrouped and forced Greene from the battlefield.
The Americans suffered more than 500 casualties, but the British lost nearly 700. Crippled by the loss of almost one third of his command, Stewart retreated toward Charleston the following day, leaving most of the South Carolina countryside in American control.
Photo by Andy Brack, July 9, 2014. Copyrighted and all rights reserved.
We’re not exactly sure what this old place is, but figure it probably most recently was a rural joint, preceded by being a country store of some sort. Likely as not, there have been some very good times had here. The run-down building, located along S.C. Highway 261 between Manning and Kingstree, S.C., is in agricultural Clarendon County.
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. Some other statistics:
Photo taken July 9, 2014, by Andy Brack. Copyrighted; all rights reserved.
Santee Outlets used to be a thriving outlet village in the small town of Santee, S.C., along Interstate 95 in the middle of a real dull drive between Savannah, Ga., and Florence, S.C. Now, however, the facility — once home to about four dozen stores — houses an antiques store and a sheriff’s department substation. A parking lot that could fit hundreds of cars is empty with weeds and broken glass as its only occupants.
While small shops and fast-food restaurants thrive at the Santee exit, small businesses like those in the outlet took a big hit in the Great Recession. Santee, home to about 750 people, is in the eastern part of Orangeburg County near Lake Marion. Orangeburg County is home to more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black. The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.
Copyrighted photo was taken July 9, 2014 by Andy Brack. All rights reserved.
Patti Connor takes a phone call at the St. Julien Plantation roadside produce stand just outside Eutawville, S.C. At this time of the year, you can find these stands across the rural South offering fresh fruits and vegetables such as peaches, corn, peas, melons, okra and more.
Eutawville, population about 350, is the site of the important Battle of Eutaw Springs, the last major battle of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. (More on this in the days ahead.) The small town is in the eastern part of Orangeburg County near Lake Marion.
Orangeburg County is home to more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black. The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.
Copyrighted photo was taken July 9, 2014 by Andy Brack. All rights reserved.
An old barn and a country lane beckon the passerby to see what’s around the bend just off Cedar Swamp Road in rural Williamsburg County, South Carolina.
This old barn on Roper Woods Road in eastern Williamsburg County, S.C., is giving way to time, writes photographer Linda W. Brown of Kingstree. The photo was taken earlier this spring when the winter wheat crop in the foreground was green.
Williamsburg County, which is about 75 miles north of Charleston, S.C., has a population of just under 34,000 people. 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 1,92
1 firms, 36.5 percent are black-owned — a percentage that is three times South Carolina’s average.
Copyrighted photo by Linda W. Brown, taken in Spring 2014. All rights reserved.
This old GMC truck, despite its coat of rust, still has plenty of character as it sits beside U.S. Highway 52 in Florence County, notes Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown.
Florence Countyhad 137,948 people, according to a 2012 Census estimate. Its poverty rate — higher in the rural areas than the county seat of Florence, averaged 19.4 percent in 2010.
Copyrighted photo by Linda W. Brown. All rights reserved.
This old house on S.C. Highway 260 in Clarendon County outside of Manning is now the office for a septic tank company, writes Kingstree photographer and retired editor Linda W. Brown. Once a rural area, this road which leads to Lake Marion is now lined with commercial establishments.
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. Some other statistics:
Photo taken October 2013 by Linda W. Brown. Copyrighted; all rights reserved.
A deserted store is at one corner of an empty intersection in Calhoun County, S.C. Back in the day before Interstate 26, which is a few miles to the south, this place would have been a busy gathering place for local residents and travelers going between Charleston and the state capital city, Columbia.
Much of Calhoun County is very rural, but because part of it abuts the Columbia metro area, its poverty rate is a little lower than most Crescent areas. Poverty is 18.2 percent, according to a five-year Census average, less than a point higher than the state average. The county is, however, relatively small at just over 15,000 people. About 43 percent of residents are black with whites comprising 55 percent.
Photo taken June 18, 2014, by Andy Brack. Copyrighted. All rights reserved.