The Center for a Better South
Above is a close-up of the neat sign on an old store from Ebony, Va., pictured here on July 31. [See that post.]
Ebony is in rural Brunswick County, which is a farming area on the North Carolina border with more than 17,000 residents. Like most Southern Crescent counties, poverty exceeds 20 percent.
Copyrighted photo taken July 24, 2013, by Andy Brack, Center for a Better South. All rights reserved.
This empty, old store in Ebony, Va., is one of the favorite buildings we’ve spotted recently in our rambles around the Southern Crescent. Perhaps one reason is how the sign above the door has faded to reveal an upside-down word, “sandwiches.” Something else was painted over it years back, but this is what’s left now.
The way we hear it from folks in Ebony, the rural village in Brunswick County once was known as the Prospect area. But when it had grown enough to get a post office, the postal authorities said they couldn’t name it “Prospect” because there already was a post office with that name in Virginia. So one of the town elders figured that if they couldn’t name it “Prospect,” they might as well name it after a great old black horse he had in his pasture named (you guessed it) “Ebony.”
Brunswick County is a farming area on the North Carolina border with more than 17,000 residents. Like most Southern Crescent counties, poverty exceeds 20 percent.
Copyrighted photo taken July 24, 2013, by Andy Brack, Center for a Better South. All rights reserved.
This imposing, empty old farm house dominates a hilly cow pasture outside Gasburg, Va., near the intersection of Spraggins and Oak Grove roads.
Several people who viewed the photo said it reminded them of Andrew Wyeth’s famous 1948 painting “Christina’s World” — just without Christina.
A post office deliveryman said he recently saw a black bear chasing cows on the property where last week butterflies swarmed around blooming milkweed and Queen Anne’s lace.
Gasburg is in rural Brunswick County, a farming area on the North Carolina border with more than 17,000 residents. Like most Southern Crescent counties, poverty exceeds 20 percent.
Copyrighted photo taken July 24, 2013, by Andy Brack, Center for a Better South. All rights reserved.
Tobacco is maturing in fields across the Southern Crescent, including this patch in rural Valentines in the southeastern part of Virginia. In the background is Wright’s Gen. Mdse., an old-time country store that doubles as a post office. Much of the store is an homage to how old country stores used to be, but you can still buy some stuff like cold drinks and crackers.
Tobacco production remains a viable business across the South, particularly the flue-cured tobacco of the American South that is used in higher-end tobacco products across the world. While China outpaces American production four-fold or more, American tobacco apparently is preferred to help flavor products. U.S. production in 2012 was about 500 million pounds and is expected to be in high demand again this year. More info.
This photo in the unincorporated Valentines community is in Brunswick County, a farming area on the North Carolina border with more than 17,000 residents. Like most Southern Crescent counties, poverty exceeds 20 percent.
Copyrighted photo taken July 24, 2013, by Andy Brack, Center for a Better South. All rights reserved.