Tag: Orangeburg County

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UFO Welcome Center, Bowman, S.C.

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Yep, there’s a welcome center for UFOs in the heart of the Southern Crescent in Bowman, S.C., in rural Orangeburg County.

The saucer-shaped building is in the yard of Jody Pendarvis, who started building it in 1994, according to RoadsideAmerica.com.

Mount Pleasant resident Don Gordon snapped the photo on a detour through Bowman in an attempt to avoid traffic jam on Interstate 26.

Orangeburg County is home too more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black.  The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.  The City of Orangeburg, known for its gardens and historically black colleges, officially is home to 13,850 people and has a 31.3 poverty rate in 2012, but the greater area has more than 65,000 people.

Copyrighted photo was taken and originally posted in August 2014 by Don Gordon.  All rights reserved.

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Bounty on the way

Corn field with wild daylilies, Orangeburg County, S.C.
Corn field with wild daylilies, Orangeburg County, S.C.

It’s that time of year — the time of year that the land is producing acre upon acre of bountiful food. This corn field, along U.S. Highway 176 at the Calhoun-Orangeburg county line, illustrates the continuing importance of agribusiness to the Palmetto State. Coming soon: Fresh tomatoes, beans, squash and more. (Photo by Andy Brack)

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Grand old house, Orangeburg County, S.C.

Grand old house, near Holly Hill, S.C.
Grand old house, near Holly Hill, S.C.

We’re still trying to find out the history behind this grand house about five miles northwest of Holly Hill, S.C. where U.S. Highways 15 and 176 split.  We’re told a family that just had a daughter (see if you can find the pink stork sign) is renovating it slowly.  [We shared this popular photo first in 2013 and thought you’d like to see it again.]

UPDATE, 9/27/14:  Our friend Lynn Teague of Columbia says her kin and friends call this the old Galphin House.  Later she sent word that archives in Orangeburg identify the house as being built by the Rev. Richard Powers Galphin and Lillian Wells Galphin, who died in 1913 and 1935 respectively.  She added that the land around Wells Crossroads likely belonged to the Taylor family more than 200 years ago.  Thanks Lynn!

Holly Hill, which had about 1,300 people in 2000, is near the Santee Cooper lakes in Orangeburg County as well as Interstates 26 and 95.  Thirteen miles south is the National Audubon society’s Francis Beidler Forest in Four Holes Swamp.  It features the largest remaining stand of virgin bald cypress and tupelo gum swamp in the world.  Also a few miles from Holly Hill are two large cement quarries.

Holly Hill is just one of the many towns in Orangeburg County, South Carolina’s largest.  Some 91,476 people were thought to live in the county in 2012, according to the U.S. Census.  Almost two in three residents are black.  Some 24.5 percent of residents live below poverty.

Photo is copyright 2013, Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

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Across the street, Eutaw Springs, S.C.

Across the street from battle site, Eutaw Springs, S.C.
Across the street from battle site, Eutaw Springs, S.C.

This old house is across the street from the site of the Battle of Eutaw Springs in rural Orangeburg County, S.C.

The battle site is just outside of Eutawville, a town of about 350 in the eastern part of Orangeburg County near Lake Marion.

Orangeburg County is home to more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black.  The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.

Copyrighted photo was taken July 9, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

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Battlefield, Eutaw Springs, S.C.

Battle site, Eutaw Springs, S.C.
Battle site, Eutaw Springs, S.C.

The Battle of Eutaw Springs (1781) was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War between colonists and the British.  The South is filled with historic markers that outline history of the area.  In many places, they’re being packaged by state tourism bureaus as history trips.

Today at the site of the battle, just east of the town of Eutawville in Orangeburg County, is a memorial park with information placards that explain what happened.  In the background under shade trees, you can see some memorials that honor the combatants.

The descriptive sign in this picture reads:

Victory in Defeat

On the morning of September 8, 1781, General Nathanael Greene’s American army attacked Colonel Alexander Stewart’s British force camped at a plantation near Eutaw Springs.  Here two almost evenly matched armies slugged it out in the last major Revolutionary War battle in South Carolina.

In over three hours of brutal combat, American and British forces traded musket volleys and bayonet charges.  Greene’s troops drove the British back into their camp, but the British regrouped and forced Greene from the battlefield.

The Americans suffered more than 500 casualties, but the British lost nearly 700.  Crippled by the loss of almost one third of his command, Stewart retreated toward Charleston the following day, leaving most of the South Carolina countryside in American control.

Photo by Andy Brack, July 9, 2014.  Copyrighted and all rights reserved.

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Deserted, Santee, S.C.

Empty, deserted mall, Santee, S.C.
Empty, deserted mall, Santee, S.C.

Santee Outlets used to be a thriving outlet village in the small town of Santee, S.C., along Interstate 95 in the middle of a real dull drive between Savannah, Ga., and Florence, S.C.  Now, however, the facility — once home to about four dozen stores — houses an antiques store and a sheriff’s department substation.  A parking lot that could fit hundreds of cars is empty with weeds and broken glass as its only occupants.

While small shops and fast-food restaurants thrive at the Santee exit, small businesses like those in the outlet took a big hit in the Great Recession.  Santee, home to about 750 people, is in the eastern part of Orangeburg County near Lake Marion.  Orangeburg County is home to more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black.  The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.

Copyrighted photo was taken July 9, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

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Roadside stand, Eutawville, S.C.

Peaches at the St. Julien Plantation produce stand, outside Eutawville, S.C.
Peaches at the St. Julien Plantation produce stand, outside Eutawville, S.C.

Patti Connor takes a phone call at the St. Julien Plantation roadside produce stand just outside Eutawville, S.C.  At this time of the year, you can find these stands across the rural South offering fresh fruits and vegetables such as peaches, corn, peas, melons, okra and more.

Eutawville, population about 350, is the site of the important Battle of Eutaw Springs, the last major battle of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina.  (More on this in the days ahead.)  The small town is in the eastern part of Orangeburg County near Lake Marion.

Orangeburg County is home to more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black.  The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.

Copyrighted photo was taken July 9, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

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Tin cabin, Orangeburg County, S.C.

Old cabin, Orangeburg County, S.C.
Old cabin, Orangeburg County, S.C.

This old one-room cabin with a tin roof is just inside Orangeburg County on U.S. Highway 178 near the Dorchester County line.  Although it’s seen its better days, you can imagine tenant farmers from 80 or more years ago sitting on the front porch.

Orangeburg County is home too more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black.  The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.  The City of Orangeburg, known for its gardens and historically black colleges, officially is home to 13,850 people and has a 31.3 poverty rate in 2012, but the greater area has more than 65,000 people.

Copyrighted photo was taken April 23, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

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Pothole, Orangeburg County, S.C.

Pothole, near Bowman, S.C.
Pothole, near Bowman, S.C.

This pothole on U.S. Highway 178 east of Bowman is just one of a gazillion pitting South Carolina roads.  The state has an estimated $27 billion in road and bridge maintenance needs to bring its extensive highway system to being good.  But lawmakers continue to shy from raising the state’s gas tax, one of the lowest in the nation.

Photo by Andy Brack, April 23, 2014.  All rights reserved.

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Bingo City, Orangeburg, S.C.

Bingo City, Orangeburg, S.C.
Bingo City, Orangeburg, S.C.
Less than two blocks from a revitalized downtown main square in Orangeburg, S.C., with clear signage, flowers, shade trees, brick paths and more is this desolate parking lot featuring “Bingo City.”
While the downtown redevelopment is attractive, it appears to be a hopeful step in reenergizing the downtown with lots of business.  Unfortunately, a mishmash of second- and third-tier businesses are all that generally remain:  battered storefronts for cheap clothing stores, religious bookshops, barber and beauty shops, dime stores, furniture stores and finance agencies.
The City of Orangeburg, known for its gardens and historically black colleges, officially is home to 13,850 people and has a 31.3 poverty rate in 2012, but the greater area has more than 65,000 people.
Orangeburg County is home to more than 91,000 people, two thirds of whom are black.  The county has a poverty rate of 24.5 percent.

Copyrighted photo was taken April 23, 2014 by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.