Despite the high fence and signs warning people to “keep back” and “no trespassing” and “video surveillance,” we got a kick out of the Happy Taxi Cab Co. just outside Ridgeland, S.C., on S.C. Highway 336. You can see old trucks from days gone by and get a feel of thrift mixed with entrepreneurship.
Ridgeland, the county seat of Jasper County, grew by 60 percent from 2000 to 2010, when the population was just over 4,000 people, according to Census figures. Jasper County, population 25,833, is just over the river from Savannah, Ga. Its location near the metro area likely is why poverty in Jasper County (21.4 percent) is half that of Allendale County to the north. Ridgeland has a poverty rate of more than 24 percent.
Photo by Andy Brack, taken on March 2, 2014. All rights reserved.