Category: South Carolina

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Empty joint, Bamberg County, S.C.

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Empty joint, 13 miles south of Bamberg, S.C.

 

U.S. Highway 301 used to be one of the main north-south arteries for tourists heading south to Florida.  But after South Carolina’s construction of its part of now-busy Interstate 95 started in 1969 and ended in 1976 [more], vehicles opted for the fast throughways over highways that slowed traffic in small towns.

This photo, taken in southern Bamberg County near the 301 intersection with S.C. Highway 64, depicts old joint that had few clues about its earlier existence.  Charleston photographer Michael Kaynard speculated that the building, now boarded up with insulation pressing against big glass windows, first was some kind of restaurant and gas station which succumbed to being a rural club before withering.

“Driving down Hwy 301 is depressing,” Kaynard writes.  “So many businesses are closed.  This road was killed by the Interstate and one business after another just could not make it.

“This particular place is somewhat of a mystery.  I was attracted by the large arrow, just as travelers were many years ago.  There were so many choices that the businesses had to install attention-getting signage to attract customers.  The lettering on the sign was so faded that I could not make out a name or what type of business it was.  If I had to guess I would think that, originally, it was a combination restaurant and gas station.  It would be really interesting to find out if I guessed correctly.”

If anybody has any clues about what this once was, let us know through our contact page.

Photo taken May 6, 2013, by Michael Kaynard, Kaynard Photography, for the Center for a Better South.  All rights reserved.

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Old city hall, Bamberg, S.C.

Alleyway, Bamberg, S.C.
Alleyway, Bamberg, S.C.

The South is filled with alleyways like this one from rural Bamberg, S.C.  The two-story building at left with vines crawling up the side is the back of the town’s old city hall, now empty and vacant on the main drag, U.S. Highway 301.  In the middle, you can see how owners of a furniture store made boarded-up back windows more attractive by portraying various colored Palmetto trees, the state symbol.

As mentioned in an earlier post, just over 30 percent of the 15,987 people in Bamberg County in 2010 lived below the poverty level, according to the U.S. Census.  The majority of residents are black (61.5 percent) with whites comprising 36.1 percent.   Some 1.6 percent of residents are Latino while 0.4 percent are of Asian descent.

Photo taken May 6, 2013, by Andy Brack, president of the Center for a Better South

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Man reading newspaper, Bamberg, S.C.

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A elderly Hindu man reading what appeared to be an Indian newspaper outside of an old motor court on Main Street in Bamberg, S.C., represents how more foreign-born people are moving into the rural South.  The man, who couldn’t speak English, was identified by a hotel employee as “Mr. Patel.”  His stark white, pressed outfit stood out on a sunny day in the parking lot of the Relax Inn against the bright blue doors of its 22 rooms.

“At first, I was surprised to see someone of Indian descent in Bamberg,” said Charleston photographer Michael Kaynard, noting that S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, also of Indian descent, grew up in Bamberg.  “But I figured his family probably followed another family to this rural town.

“It reminded me that my grandparents emigrated to the United States around 1900 and they came to avoid oppression.”

Just over 30 percent of the 15,987 people in Bamberg County in 2010 lived below the poverty level, according to the U.S. Census.  The county included 254 people born outside of the United States.   The majority of residents are black (61.5 percent) with whites comprising 36.1 percent.   Some 1.6 percent of residents are Latino while 0.4 percent are of Asian descent like Mr. Patel.

Photo taken May 6, 2013, by Michael Kaynard, Kaynard Photography.

 

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Rural church in 1939, near Manning, S.C.

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During the Great Depression, the Farm Security Administration hired documentary photographers like Marion Post Wolcott to take photographs of rural and small-town life across the country to highlight the effects of economic stagnation. The collection offers more than 164,000 black-and-white photos and 1,600 color photos taken from across the nation.

What’s interesting about this 1939 photo by Wolcott, described as “A Negro church in a corn field” near the South Carolina Crescent town of Manning in Clarendon County, is how it could have been taken just as easily today, 74 years later.  According to the 2010 Census, almost 21 percent of Clarendon County residents live in poverty.