By springtime, most agricultural fields once were under cultivation, writes retired editor Linda W. Brown of Kingstree, S.C. But this Williamsburg County field near Kingstree has been taken over by common sorrel, an herb often viewed as a weed with small bright red to purple flowers. “The changing agricultural outlook leaves many of them [fields] fallow,” she writes.
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 is by Linda W. Brown; taken April 2013. All rights reserved.