Pinewood, population 538 in rural Sumter County, S.C., has this old, restored railroad depot, which is similar to ones we’re showcased in the past from Salters, S.C., and Leary, Ga.
Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown says this news story from 202 highlights the depot’s restoration.
Sumter County, which is home to Shaw Air Force Base, is comprised of 108,052 people. Just under 50 percent are white; 47 percent are black. The poverty rate is estimated to be 18.2 percent in the county, but it is a much higher percentage in places like Pinewood.
The old Livery Stable in Mayesville, S.C., appears to be undergoing renovation, retired editor and photographer Linda W. Brown writes. The livery is across the railroad right-of-way from the Kineen Hotel, pictured earlier in the month.
Sumter County’s Mayesville, population 731, grew up along the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad, she writes.
“It reached its heyday at the turn of the 20th Century with two banks, a hotel and various other businesses associated with a farming and railroad community. What remains of the Kineen Hotel still stands, but is in very bad repair. The old railroad bed has been removed and the old railroad right-of-way now serves as green space thought the center of town.”
Sumter County, which is home to Shaw Air Force Base, is comprised of 108,052 people. Just under 50 percent are white; 47 percent are black. The poverty rate is estimated to be 18.2 percent in the county, but it is a much higher percentage in places like Mayesville. Poverty there has been estimated to be 36.5 percent for all, but 49.5 percent for children under 18.
This two-story brick hotel in Mayesville, S.C., is a shadow of its former self. Intricate glasswork hangs awry alongside broken windows. Second-floor windows are boarded-up. The first floor is virtually gutted.
Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown captured this shot earlier this month on a trip through the Sumter County town. Mayesville, population 731, grew up along the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad, she writes.
“It reached its heyday at the turn of the 20th Century with two banks, a hotel and various other businesses associated with a farming and railroad community. What remains of the Kineen Hotel still stands, but is in very bad repair. The old railroad bed has been removed and the old railroad right-of-way now serves as green space thought the center of town.”
Sumter County, which is home to Shaw Air Force Base, is comprised of 108,052 people. Just under 50 percent are white; 47 percent are black. The poverty rate is estimated to be 18.2 percent in the county, but it is a much higher percentage in places like Mayesville. Poverty there has been estimated to be 36.5 percent for all, but 49.5 percent for children under 18.
Bellamy, Ala., March 2009. Photo by Bill Hawker for the Center for a Better South.
The term “Black Belt” means different things to different people. For geographers, it means a swath of black topsoil that cuts through the middle of Alabama that was the foundation of cotton crops and an agricultural economy. For sociologists, though, it is a term that reflects a crescent-shaped region that includes the same area of Alabama, but stretches westward toward the Delta area and eastward through Georgia, hooking northerly to the Carolinas and Tidewater Virginia — the area we call the “Southern Crescent.”
The picture above is from Bellamy, Ala., and is representative of the poverty found throughout the Crescent. Bellamy, which has about 500 people, a post office and a health center, was several miles from the closest gas station or country store on our last visit to the area in 2009. Bellamy is in rural Sumter County, Ala., where 38 percent of the population lives at or below the federal poverty level.
