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.