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Forgotten or absorbed towns across South Carolina

Bishopville and Mullins are shadows of what they once were. Bishopville was a busy little town back in the late 60s and into the 70s when I was young. Now it is pretty much nothing.
The decline in tobacco use has let the air out of the Mullins economy. The entire Marion County economy has also been hobbled by a number of industrial closings as well. It saddens me. My Dad was from Marion and my grandmother taught at Mullins High School for many years.
 
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A lot of these towns have beautiful brick textile mills that are empty for reasons previously discussed. I have seen some nice renovations done with some of these old mills into apartments, office space, and retail. But without a manufacturing base, there is not much reason for a town to exist. It’s sad to see these mills just sitting there abandoned.
 
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The decline in tobacco use has let the air out of the Mullins economy. The entire Marion County economy has also been hobbled by a number of industrial closings as well. It saddens me. My Dad was from Marion and my grandmother taught at Mullins High School for many years.
I used to make 5 stops in the area but it is just fly-over country for me now between Florence and Conway. More windshield time.
 
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I drive cars/trucks for a local dealership. Yesterday I delivered sales papers to a customer in Lodge as a courtesy so they did not have to drive up here. Beautiful country down there!
I have a cousin in Beaufort who drives for local dealerships. He'll often go through Lodge en route to Augusta.
 
Barnwell- BHS. Warhorses baby!! We were good when I went there. Made the state championship in I think it was 97, my first year in Columbia. I went to the game at WB and watched us lose on a last second TD pass..
Did you ever hear about Sol Blatt and Edgar Brown from Barnwell? At one time they were the most powerful men in South Carolina.
 
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I drive US 321 from where I live just over the Georgia line to Columbia for ballgames. Folks here mentioned quite a few of the towns I go through all the time - Scotia, Olar, Ulmer. The biggest town on that trip is Denmark, which is actually a pretty setting. Anyone from there know anything about the guy who's always out on 321 with maps and such, rain or shine, talking to himself? I worry about him if I don't see him, but 80% of the time I do. He must be a Denmark landmark.

321 is a fascinating drive. The camel in the pasture outside of Swansea is pretty cool.

One last question. I pass through the town of Norway on that drive. Compared to the other towns, Norway has a traffic light, etc., yet their high school is Hunter-Kinard-Tyler. Seems strange that Norway folks have to go west to really nothing for high school. I don't ever recall a Norway High. Anyone know anything about that?

PS: I miss Langley-Bath-Clearwater. Never went to a game there, but thought the name was cool.
I always thought he was homeless but the people in town tell me he lives in a nice house
 
Im about to win this thread. Tatum, SC. Town is currently a whopping 584 acres with 71 residents. Enter Tatum cross the RR tracks and leave Tatum in less than a 1/4 mile.
between bennettsville and mccoll
 
Any stories about Salters, SC? My roommate's GF was from there in college but Its a town with a back road that has a bridge over it as a bypass. Is it officially a ghost town now? (BTW, Andrews is what reminded me of this town.)
bought bbq in salters yesterday on my way to georgetown Coopers store
 
Branchville was on the map for the main reason of a nearby coal-fired electric plant. Branchville and the electric plant was served by the Hampton & Branchville Railroad, a small very wealthy railroad due to the coal moving on it. That coal plant has long closed and the railroad is slowly dying as no trains use it. CSX RR owns it and there has been rumors that they will reopen that line and even extend it to the Volvo plant in Ridgeville. The coal plant was in Cannadys.
Branchville had the first railroad junction in the country i believe
 
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Driving back from Hilton Head Saturday several of those towns are now ghost towns. Saw an elementary school (Robertville) long since shut down. And that got me thinking.
The list of schools, towns, that are no more is a large one. But the stories, maybe from a lot of you, are still there.
But to keep it sports related, what are some schools that were once great. Only to be merged or done away with altogether? In my area, before my time there were Leavelle McCampbell and Langley/Bath/Clearwater (LBC) high schools. Both had some success in football. I always thought the merging of those two (Midland Valley) would produce more of the same. Pretty much not the case in 40 years.
Town of Shirley in Hamton County. To get there, you first have to go south on hwy 321 to Estill, which itself is far beyond the end of the earth. I worked and lived there for a couple of years in the late 70s, driving grain trucks from the field to the storage sites. Great farming community back then, growing corn, soybeans, peaches, h and some cotton. But boy was I lonely for a little female companionship.
 
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I think you have it backwards. it's Sheldon which is in northern Beaufort County near Gardens Corner.

you are exactly right
An amusing OT regarding the stretch of US 17 & US 21 running concurrently from Pocotaligo to Gardens Corner (and through Sheldon) is that US 17 & 21 are running in "opposite directions," AKA a "wrong way concurrency".

Driving the 7km from Pocotaligo to Gardens Corner, one is travelling south on US 21, and north on US 17, at the same time.


"
 
We came home from Pawley's last time by way of Hemingway and Johnsonville. It took FOREVER. Anyway, I wanted to see those tiny towns.
When I was a child we would sometimes come back from the beach by going out Black River Rd in Georgetown to Kingstree. There was a family that pit cooked BBQ somewhere along there and my parents would stop and buy a couple of pounds of pulled pork and some sauce. They used a vinegar and black pepper recipe that makes my mouth water even now when I remember it.

There was also a campground near the bridge over the Black River where we would picnic on the way down. The locals rigged up a rope from the top of a tree and tied an old tire to it so you could swing out over the river and drop 10-15 feet down to the water. My older brother did it a few times.

There was a shortcut through Kingstree that took you by the tobacco market. I can remember rolling down the window (actually, no AC so the window was down) and listening to the auctioneer.

I can remember the sounds and the smells of that trip 60 years later. (and the Georgetown Paper Mill)
 
Town of Shirley in Hamton County. To get there, you first have to go south on hwy 321 to Estill, which itself is far beyond the end of the earth. I worked and lived there for a couple of years in the late 70s, driving grain trucks from the field to the storage sites. Great farming community back then, growing corn, soybeans, peaches, h and some cotton. But boy was I lonely for a little female companionship.
Hampton County. My mom's hometown was Scotia. What a forlorn place.
 
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When I was a child we would sometimes come back from the beach by going out Black River Rd in Georgetown to Kingstree. There was a family that pit cooked BBQ somewhere along there and my parents would stop and buy a couple of pounds of pulled pork and some sauce. They used a vinegar and black pepper recipe that makes my mouth water even now when I remember it.

There was also a campground near the bridge over the Black River where we would picnic on the way down. The locals rigged up a rope from the top of a tree and tied an old tire to it so you could swing out over the river and drop 10-15 feet down to the water. My older brother did it a few times.

There was a shortcut through Kingstree that took you by the tobacco market. I can remember rolling down the window (actually, no AC so the window was down) and listening to the auctioneer.

I can remember the sounds and the smells of that trip 60 years later. (and the Georgetown Paper Mill)
Were you crossing the Black River at Brown's Ferry?
 
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Yep, I drove through there a few years ago. It gave me a very strange feeling.
You might want to check out my post on Estill and Shirley on this post. Hampton County is about as country as it comes.
Hampton County. My mom's hometown was Scotia. What a forlorn place.
Yep I spent some time in and around Scotia. I recall one day as I was driving a broken down grain truck up Hwy 321 to deliver a load to the grain facility near Estill , I started singing this song by John Denver. Sweet Surrender https://g.co/kgs/cfgKgZ
 
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Were you crossing the Black River at Brown's Ferry?
Yes. That's it. I had forgotten the name. And the little town was Nesmith.

There were 2 ways that took you through Kingstree in those days. The other was through Andrews. We didn't go the Manning route in those days. There was another way that I didn't learn until much later that took you to Lake City where you picked up 378 on the east side of I-95.
 
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You might want to check out my post on Estill and Shirley on this post. Hampton County is about as country as it comes.
Yep I spent some time in and around Scotia. I recall one day as I was driving a broken down grain truck up Hwy 321 to deliver a load to the grain facility near Estill , I started singing this song by John Denver. Sweet Surrender https://g.co/kgs/cfgKgZ
I remember the grain elevator in Estill. When I was a teenager visiting Scotia, I knew another teenager from there whose family had an egg farm - lots of chickens. I went with him one time to get grain from that grain elevator.
 
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When I was a child we would sometimes come back from the beach by going out Black River Rd in Georgetown to Kingstree. There was a family that pit cooked BBQ somewhere along there and my parents would stop and buy a couple of pounds of pulled pork and some sauce. They used a vinegar and black pepper recipe that makes my mouth water even now when I remember it.

There was also a campground near the bridge over the Black River where we would picnic on the way down. The locals rigged up a rope from the top of a tree and tied an old tire to it so you could swing out over the river and drop 10-15 feet down to the water. My older brother did it a few times.

There was a shortcut through Kingstree that took you by the tobacco market. I can remember rolling down the window (actually, no AC so the window was down) and listening to the auctioneer.

I can remember the sounds and the smells of that trip 60 years later. (and the Georgetown Paper Mill)
There is nothing like the sweet smell of the auction. You used to smell it when driving through lake city or Hemingway. I miss those days. Now almost all tobacco is contracted
 
There is nothing like the sweet smell of the auction. You used to smell it when driving through lake city or Hemingway. I miss those days. Now almost all tobacco is contracted
The opening days of auctions were happenings. They were festivals; they were big deals.
 
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Man that’s sad. I grew up in Rock Hill and we would go there with the YMCA camps. I remember being so scared of that diving board, but I did it.
That is sad. I went there many times as a kid. I was trying to think of who's face was visible on the seating area at the pool. Was it Lincoln? I also enjoyed the open-air skating rink.
 
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