Wilcox County – Building a better South

July 21, 2013July 18, 2013

Family farm, Owensboro, Ga.

"Motion" picture of family farm near Owensboro, Ga. By Brian Brown. All rights reserved. — “Motion” picture of family farm near Owensboro, Ga. By Brian Brown. All rights reserved.

For Georgia photographer Brian Brown, this family farmhouse near Owensboro, Ga., represents the heart of small-family farming operations.

“Owensboro is a ghost town today, with nothing but fields and farming, but once supported several businesses and many more families lived there fifty years ago than do today,” Brown writes.

Owensboro is in Wilcox County, one of the Peach State’s smaller counties with 9,068 residents, according to the U.S. Census. About two thirds of residents are white and a third black. Estimates by the U.S. Census are that 27.4 percent of county residents live in poverty.

More QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.

May 30, 2013July 13, 2013

New store, Abbeville, Ga.

These construction workers are preparing a plat in Abbeville, Ga., for a new Family Dollar store that’s right across the street from the county courthouse.

That’s good news because the economic investment offers more shopping opportunities for people in rural Wilcox County, one of the Peach State’s smaller counties with 9,068 residents, according to the U.S. Census. About two thirds of residents are white and a third black. Estimates by the U.S. Census are that 27.4 percent of county residents live in poverty.

More QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.

May 28, 2013July 13, 2013

Hives in Wilcox County, Ga.

If you’re traveling country roads across the agricultural South, be on the lookout for white boxes of beehives, as highlighted here near a corn field in the heartland of Georgia.

Bees are critical to successful crops, but have been having a hard time in recent years due to a wasting disease that is decimating a large percentage of hives. This Maystory in a recent edition in The New York Times explains more.

Wilcox County in Georgia’s heartland is one of the state’s smaller counties with 9,068 residents, according to the U.S. Census. About two thirds of residents are white and a third black. Estimates by the U.S. Census are that 27.4 percent of county residents live in poverty.

More QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.

May 26, 2013July 13, 2013

Cropduster, near Pitt, Ga.

13.0526.cropduster — Cropduster, Wilcox County, Ga.

The cotton, peanut and watermelon cropdusting season is winding down fro Charles Timmons of AeroDusters in Wilcox County, Ga. Wilcox says his yellow and blue 1992 single-engine plane can spray up to about 100 acres per trip as he flies over fields stretching from middle Georgia to Florida. Timmons has been spraying crops for 44 years.

More QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.