railroad – Building a better South

October 9, 2014November 16, 2014

Vernacular house, Cummings, S.C.

We’re not really sure about the story behind this great, old vernacular house along the railroad tracks in tiny Cummings, S.C., a few miles southeast of Hampton. And while the house is boarded up and front door is open, it seems to still be getting some use as a storage area. No doubt, there a lots of stories that could be told about its better days.

Hampton County, located in the southern part of South Carolina, was home to 21,090 people in 2010, about 4,000 fewer than a century earlier. More. Some 22.6 percent of Hampton County residents live below the poverty line.

Hampton’s annual Watermelon Festival is the state’s longest, continually-running festival. The town of Hampton includes a brownfield of a former medical waste incinerator. More.

QuickFacts from the U.S. Census

March 25, 2014March 24, 2014

Rusted roof, Wrightsville, Ga.

Here’s a shot of another shack along the railroad tracks in Wrightsville, Ga., which bills itself as the “friendliest town in Georgia. Earlier photo.

Wrightsville, county seat for Johnson County in east middle Georgia, is home to about 2,200 people, 35 percent of whom live in poverty. Some 46 percent of the town’s residents are white; 53 percent are black.

Johnson County, part of the Dublin Micropolitan Statistical Area, has just under 10,000 people, 21 percent of whom live in poverty.

March 23, 2014March 24, 2014

Down by the tracks, Wrightsville, Ga.

Wrightsville, Ga., bills itself as the “friendliest town in Georgia,” but conditions don’t look too great along the railroad tracks. The above shack on East Trilby Street appeared to be abandoned, but you can imagine how the walls rattled when trains clicked by in the old days.

Johnson County, part of the Dublin Micropolitan Statistical Area, has just under 10,000 people, 21 percent of whom live in poverty.