barn – Page 2 – Building a better South

September 15, 2013September 15, 2013

Decaying barn, near Pleasant Hill, N.C.

When driving north on U.S. Highway 17 in North Carolina just before crossing into Virginia, this barn stands near the town of Pleasant Hill. Nearby is an abandoned farmhouse. Both reminded photographer Michael Kaynard of the general decay of older homesteads along the highway in rural areas.

“We drove through one beaten-down town after another. We also experienced the same decaying buildings. It was a reminder that everything is not alright in America. There is a lot more poverty and struggling families than I imagined. I guess if you don’t see it then it does not exist.

“I think everyone should take the time to see a portion of their country by riding the roads. It will certainly make you appreciate where you live and what you have. I know it certainly did for me. I love riding the roads but seeing some of the things on this last trip was disturbing.”

More photos by Michael Kaynard

September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Tobacco barn, near Lake City, S.C.

You don’t have to drive too far in the rural Southern tobacco belt to find an old tobacco barn like this one in the middle of a field west of Lake City, S.C.

As photographer Linda W. Brown notes, “It’s interesting to see these old barns that once, at this time of year, would have been surrounded by ripening tobacco and now are not. ‘Forlorn’ is a good adjective to describe it.”

Tobacco once ruled farming in many parts of the Carolinas, Virginia and Kentucky because it was a high-price cash crop. But the production and sale of tobacco in the South has changed dramatically over the last 30 years in the South. Tobacco auctions, quotas and government price supports dominated prior to 2004 when reforms eliminated government intervention into the market and allowed growers to produce as much as they wanted [Learn more]. These days, auctions are rare — with only one in South Carolina according to this story — and growers enter into direct contracts with buyers.

Lake City, which recently started an annual arts festival to inject new life into its community, is in the Pee Dee’s Florence County near Interstate 95 in northeast South Carolina. One in five people in Lake City, population 6,715, is white, while some 77.5 percent of residents are black. The city’s poverty rate is more than 32 percent, according to the U.S. Census. The high poverty rate is a testament to Lake City’s rural nature since its home county, supported by the regional city of Florence, has a 19.4 percent poverty rate.

August 30, 2013August 26, 2013

Old barn, near Emporia, Va.

Old barn, Southampton County, Va. Photo by Andy Brack.

This old barn about 2.5 miles east of the Emporia-Greensville County Regional Airport in southeastern Virginia is smack dab in the middle of a peanut field. The barn, located in Southampton County, is just off U.S. Highway 58.

Southampton County is known in history as the place where slave Nat Turner led a rebellion in 1831. More than 50 white residents were killed in the rebellion. After the state crushed it, Turner and 55 others were executed. More than 100 other blacks are thought to have been murdered by white mobs. The rebellion led to action across Virginia and other Southern states, according to Wikipedia: “State legislators passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free blacks, restricting rights of assembly and other civil rights for free blacks, and requiring white ministers to be present at black worship services.”

Today, 18,409 people live in Southampton County; three in five are white; most of the rest are black. Poverty is about 16 percent.

August 14, 2013August 12, 2013

Barn, near Rowland, N.C.

Barn along Interstate 95 near Rowland, N.C. Photo by Andy Brack.

This quaint old barn sits in a field next to the mobile home and farmhouse profiled in our Aug. 12 post. It’s located near Rowland, N.C., about a mile north of the famous South of the Border attraction at the South Carolina-North Carolina line along Interstate 95.

Rowland had 1,146 people in 2000, including more than 30 percent in poverty. It’s also part of Robeson County, which is considered a majority-minority county (as are about 10 percent in the country) because its populations of native Americans, blacks and Hispancs total more than 50 percent.

In 2012, Robeson County had an estimated 135,496 people comprised of 39 percent American Indians, 32.8 percent whites, 24.7 percent blacks and 8.2 percent Hispanic, according to the Census. Some 30.6 percent of county residents lived at or below the federal poverty level.

More QuickFacts about Robeson County.