Ridgeland – Building a better South

This bronze of a gopher tortoise is the focal point of a community square in Ridgeland near the southern tip of South Carolina.

According to a marker at the park, which is adjacent to the railroad tracks around which the town grew after 1860, Ridgeland originally was known as “Gopher Hill” because of the abundance of tortoises (Gopherus Polyphemus) that inhabited the sand hills of the area. The reptiles, which live up to 60 years, spend much of their life in deep burrows. Now an endangered species, they’re not too abundant these days.

Ridgeland has been the seat of Jasper County since it was created in 1912. Before then the railroad tracks of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad served as the boundary between Beaufort and Hampton counties and Ridgeland was split between them.

Ridgeland 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.

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.

Tag: Ridgeland

Gopher tortoise, Ridgeland, S.C.

Happy Taxi, Ridgeland, S.C.