South Carolina – Page 22 – Building a better South

August 18, 2013August 18, 2013

Old depot, Salters, S.C.

This old railroad depot in the unincorporated community of Salters, S.C., looks almost exactly like a depot we featured in June that’s in Leary, Ga.

Former editor Linda W. Brown tells us that the old depot was built in the 1850s when the railroad came to town and served the community for about 100 years. “The community was actually known as Salters Depot for many years,” she writes. “Charlie Walker never called it anything else although he pronounced the last syllable as if it were a cooking utensil. Salters has always been an agricultural community and the depot primarily handled ag products.”

Residents, who often refer to themselves as “Saltines,” love their community and many fight hard to keep out landfills or growth of a current one, Brown writes.

“Visiting Salters for me is like stepping back in time to an era when people spent the afternoons sitting on their front porches watching the trains go by,” she writes.

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 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.

Williamsburg County on Wikipedia.

QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.

August 16, 2013August 18, 2013

Old store, Salters, S.C.

Moseley store, Salters, S.C. Photo by Linda W. Brown.

Salters is an unincorporated small community in southwestern Williamsburg County, South Carolina. Former editor Linda W. Brown writes that the residents, who like to call themselves “Saltines,” love their community and many fight hard to keep out landfills or growth of a current one.

“Visiting Salters for me is like stepping back in time to an era when people spent the afternoons sitting on their front porches watching the trains go by,” she writes.

Years back, you could easily watch trains go by from the front of this store pictured above. It’s the old C.E. Moseley Store and remains in the Moseley family. “I’m not sure when it was built, but it was open until 1943 when the Moseleys moved across the railroad tracks to a larger building,” which operated until the late 1980s.

Williamsburg County on Wikipedia.

QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.

July 19, 2013July 17, 2013

Old gin, Kingstree, S.C.

Years ago, the Cooper Brothers Gin in Kingstree, S.C., was one of Williamsburg County’s most important businesses, writes photographer and retired editor Linda W. Brown.

“Today, it sits abandoned just off Longstreet Street/Highway 52. Many longtime residents are not even aware it’s there behind Cabbage’s Tire Service, although it is visible both from Longstreet and from the Kingstree Police Department parking lot.

“To me it exemplifies that we live such fast-paced lives that we are often not aware of the past or of parts of our history even when they’re visible to us every day.”

Williamsburg County on Wikipedia.

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.

Williamsburg County on Wikipedia.

QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.

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 5, 2013November 16, 2014

Lobster House, Allendale, S.C.

13.0506.sc_allendale2 — Former restaurant is now a convenience store, Allendale, S.C.

Most people in Allendale County, South Carolina’s poorest county where more than 40 percent of people live at or below the federal poverty level, can’t afford to eat lobster. Nevertheless, this now-closed restaurant represents how times were much better years back before Interstate 95 sucked sun-seeking tourists traveling through the county.

Today, part of the Lobster House is at least used — as a small convenience store, which is a better fate than many closed rest stops, gas stations, restaurants, clubs and factories that dot U.S. Highway 301.

Allendale County, also one of South Carolina’s smallest counties by population, has a 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.

June 3, 2013July 13, 2013

Closed grocery store, Allendale, S.C.

“Food deserts” are often found in poor urban and rural communities because it’s hard to find grocery stores with lots of healthy options. People who live in food deserts may only have one store that stock more packaged and canned food than they do fresh foods. In turn, having fewer options tends to support unhealthy eating habits that lead to higher incidents of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity and more.

Map: “How to find a food desert near you,” NPR

Pictured above is the Galaxy Food Center in Allendale, S.C. It was one of the poor, rural communities two grocery stores, until it closed. Now empty, it’s a reminder of just how Allendale, county seat of South Carolina’s poorest county, is cut off from lots of amenities and services found in larger communities like Charleston, Savannah, Augusta and Columbia.

With just over 40 percent of Allendale County’s 10,000 people living at or below the 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.

June 1, 2013November 16, 2014

Clothes line, Allendale, S.C.

13.0506.sc_allendale1 — Clothes drying in the sun, Allendale, S.C., May 2013.

This clothesline in rural Allendale, S.C., represents more than drying laundry in the full sun to get that “fresh” smell and feel. It is a reminder that a lot of people in distressed counties prefer saving money by letting the sun do its work on clothes than spend a dollar at a laundry mat to get them dry.

Allendale County with just under 10,000 people is one of South Carolina’s smallest counties, but also its poorest. With just over 40 percent of people living at or below the 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.

May 14, 2013July 13, 2013

Vacant truck stop, Ulmer, S.C.

Abandoned truck stop and restaurant on U.S. Highway 301, Ulmer, S.C.

This image recalls a more vibrant past for U.S. Highway 301 as it passed through rural Ulmer, S.C., in Allendale County. As in our previous post, this image — oddly of an abandoned Interstate truck stop and restaurant — recalls how the Interstate [95 in this case] swallowed up businesses after the S.C. stretch opened fully in 1976.

Allendale County is South Carolina’s poorest with 40.2 percent of its inhabitants living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census.

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