The Center for a Better South
The rusty roof of an empty, old farmhouse overlooks fields that are still planted each year, photographer and retired editor Linda Brown writes from Kingstree, S.C.
The house is on Thurgood Marshall Highway, a few miles outside of Kingstree in Williamsburg County.
Copyrighted photo taken June 29, 2014, by Linda W. Brown. All rights reserved.
Lawnmowers, rusting equipment and an old boat have a final resting place on Simms Reach Road in Williamsburg County, S.C., photographer and retired editor Linda W. Brown writes. It’s not hard to find locations like this anywhere in the Southern Crescent, which stretches from Tidewater Virginia, across the eastern Carolinas through Georgia to the Mississippi Delta.
Copyrighted photo taken June 29, 2014 by Linda W. Brown. All rights reserved.
Dry weather has had an effect on this field of corn in rural Williamsburg County. Farmers are all too often at the mercy of the weather when it comes to the success or failure of their crops, observes retired editor and photographer Linda W. Brown of Kingstreet, S.C.
Copyrighted photo by Linda W. Brown was taken June 29, 2014. All rights reserved.
A vine-covered tobacco barn in the middle of a cotton field signals changing times in agriculture in the South and in the Cedar Swamp community of Williamsburg County, S.C., where this barn is located.
Photo taken June 29, 2014, by Linda W. Brown. 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 rusting awning covers windows on a house that is showing some signs of renovation in Cades, a small community 10 miles north of Kingstree, S.C., in Williamsburg County, writes retired editor and photographer Linda W. Brown. Once a thriving railroad town, Cades is now known as a crossroad on U.S. Highway 52.
Photo by Linda W. Brown taken April 17, 2014. All rights reserved.
Over 1,000 miles of dirt roads criss-cross the 937 square miles of rural Williamsburg County, retired editor and photographer Linda W. Brown of Kingstree, S.C. writes.
“The county’s public works department is responsible for maintaining these roads, which is a large expense in the county’s budget, so much so that the county charges residents an annual $15 road maintenance fee in addition to regular property taxes. This one, Mill Dam Road, is in northeastern Williamsburg County.
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 1,921 firms, 36.5 percent are black-owned — a percentage that is three times South Carolina’s average.
Copyrighted photo by Linda W. Brown, taken April 17, 2014. All rights reserved.