Photographer Michael Kaynard of Charleston, S.C., writes that this stereotypical barn off U.S. Highway 15 south of Bennettsville, S.C., continues to shelter equipment used on an adjacent farm. “I was drawn to the design. It was quite a fancy design for a barn.” Across the rural South, more and more barns are being lost to progress.
Bennettsville is the county seat for Marlboro County, where almost 29 percent of residents live below the federal poverty line. The county had 28,145 residents in 2012, 51 percent of whom were black, according to Census estimates.
Photo by Michael Kaynard. All rights reserved. Originally posted April 25, 2013.
This once grand house in the Pee Dee town of South Carolina appears to stand empty, at the mercy of the elements. Photographer Michael Kaynard reports it has a lot of ornat features and probably was a nice house in its day.
“When I see houses like this, I am drawn to them because of their age and architectural features. someone was probably very proud of this structure. Now, no one seems to care what happens to it.”
— Photo taken in April 28, 2013, by Michael Kaynard. All rights reserved.
Years ago, the Cooper Brothers Gin in Kingstree, S.C., was one of Williamsburg County’s most important businesses, writes photographer and retired editor Linda W. Brown.
“Today, it sits abandoned just off Longstreet Street/Highway 52. Many longtime residents are not even aware it’s there behind Cabbage’s Tire Service, although it is visible both from Longstreet and from the Kingstree Police Department parking lot.
“To me it exemplifies that we live such fast-paced lives that we are often not aware of the past or of parts of our history even when they’re visible to us every day.”
Williamsburg County, located in the middle of the Southern Crescent, is about 75 miles north of Charleston, S.C. Just under 34,000 people live in the county, which is about the number who lived there in 1900, according to Census figures. 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.
Hampton Avenue building, Kingstree, S.C. Photo by Linda W. Brown, all rights reserved.
This 1904 brick building on Hampton Avenue in Kingstree, S.C., was being renovated for use by the Williamsburg County Department of Social Services when a nasty storm blew in its unbraced side walls on June 9, retired newspaper editor Linda W. Brown tells us.
“That debris crushed the two small buildings beside it — one of which was used by a tax preparation service; the other was empty. The building adjacent to the smashed buildings belongs to the Williamsburg Historical Society. It, too, was damaged.”
Taking the photo of the damage was tough, Brown said, “because in the past 10 years, we have lost five buildings on that block to fire and two other buildings have collapsed. None of those buildings has been replaced.”
When the three-story structure that suffered damage was built 109 years ago, it was the Kingstree Hardware Company.
“The hardware store was on the first floor and there was a funeral home in one of the upper stories. The building later housed department stores, but had been vacant for a number of years. It is one of 48 properties on the National Historic Register as part of the Kingstree Historic District.” Despite damage, renovations are expected to continue.
Rural Southern communities face major challenges in finding money to preserve significant old structures that can boost their attractiveness to tourists and smaller companies that want to relocate in an historic setting.
Williamsburg County, located in the middle of the Southern Crescent, is about 75 miles north of Charleston, S.C. Just under 34,000 people live in the county, which is about the number who lived there around the time that the Hampton Avenue building was constructed, according to Census figures. 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.
Pictured above is the old Hampton, S.C., Coca-Cola Bottling plant with the Nevamar Decorative Surfaces factory in the background at right. Nevamar, which makes high-pressure laminates, has more than 400 employees, making it the county’s largest employer.
Hampton County, located in the southern part of South Carolina, was home to 21,090 people in 2010, about 4,000 fewer than a century earlier. More. Some 22.6 percent of Hampton County residents live below the poverty line.
Hampton’s annual Watermelon Festival is the state’s longest, continually-running festival. The town of Hampton includes a brownfield of a former medical waste incinerator. More.
Lee Street, Hampton, S.C. Photo by Michael Kaynard, 2013.
A street construction crew worked in May to reconfigure Lee Street to make the downtown area more welcoming to residents and visitors alike. The work was just in time for the community’s 71st Watermelon Festival, an annual event that runs this year through June 30. (Visit the Watermelon Festival Web site.)
Hampton, like many rural Southern towns, is redoing its downtown to make it more attractive for people visiting smaller towns throughout the South. It seems to be working on Lee Street where, on one end of the street, is a funky coffee shop. At the other end is the old art-deco Palmetto Theater operated by the Hampton Arts Council. A resident on the council said its neon looks magnificent at night — and that we should return to see one of its productions.
Hampton County, located in the southern part of the state, was home to 20,090 people in 2010, about 4,000 fewer than a century earlier. More.
Photo by Michael Kaynard, 2013. All rights reserved.
Former restaurant is now a convenience store, Allendale, S.C.
Most people in Allendale County, South Carolina’s poorest county where more than 40 percent of people live at or below the federal poverty level, can’t afford to eat lobster. Nevertheless, this now-closed restaurant represents how times were much better years back before Interstate 95 sucked sun-seeking tourists traveling through the county.
Today, part of the Lobster House is at least used — as a small convenience store, which is a better fate than many closed rest stops, gas stations, restaurants, clubs and factories that dot U.S. Highway 301.
Allendale County, also one of South Carolina’s smallest counties by population, has a median household income is about $23,000 a year — half of South Carolina’s average and well below the nation’s $50,000 average.
“Food deserts” are often found in poor urban and rural communities because it’s hard to find grocery stores with lots of healthy options. People who live in food deserts may only have one store that stock more packaged and canned food than they do fresh foods. In turn, having fewer options tends to support unhealthy eating habits that lead to higher incidents of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity and more.
Pictured above is the Galaxy Food Center in Allendale, S.C. It was one of the poor, rural communities two grocery stores, until it closed. Now empty, it’s a reminder of just how Allendale, county seat of South Carolina’s poorest county, is cut off from lots of amenities and services found in larger communities like Charleston, Savannah, Augusta and Columbia.
With just over 40 percent of Allendale County’s 10,000 people living at or below the poverty level, the median household income is about $23,000 a year — half of South Carolina’s average and well below the nation’s $50,000 average.
Clothes drying in the sun, Allendale, S.C., May 2013.
This clothesline in rural Allendale, S.C., represents more than drying laundry in the full sun to get that “fresh” smell and feel. It is a reminder that a lot of people in distressed counties prefer saving money by letting the sun do its work on clothes than spend a dollar at a laundry mat to get them dry.
Allendale County with just under 10,000 people is one of South Carolina’s smallest counties, but also its poorest. With just over 40 percent of people living at or below the poverty level, the median household income is about $23,000 a year — half of South Carolina’s average and well below the nation’s $50,000 average.
Abandoned truck stop and restaurant on U.S. Highway 301, Ulmer, S.C.
This image recalls a more vibrant past for U.S. Highway 301 as it passed through rural Ulmer, S.C., in Allendale County. As in our previous post, this image — oddly of an abandoned Interstate truck stop and restaurant — recalls how the Interstate [95 in this case] swallowed up businesses after the S.C. stretch opened fully in 1976.
Allendale County is South Carolina’s poorest with 40.2 percent of its inhabitants living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census.
Photo taken May 6, 2013, by Michael Kaynard, Kaynard Photography, for the Center for a Better South. All rights reserved.
