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A not so exotic location
Florence, SC
Not a very exotic journey but one that yielded some photos. Florence is located in northeastern South Carolina at the intersection of Interstate routes 95 and 20. The town was originally formed as a railroad terminal and the train whistles can still be heard all times of the day and night. The purpose for our visit was to see my wife's family who has been living in this area of SC since before Florence was founded.
These photos do not represent the best that Florence has to offer. I am more attracted to the old and run down rather than to the new and shiny (give me rust and peeling paint). One of the high points about visiting Florence is the good, inexpensive food that is available. In addition to the wonderful BBQ, there are a number of very good non-BBQ serving restaurants. Many of these restaurants are run by families with Greek heritage. Their mission seems to be to provide their customers with good fresh food at a low price and they succeed.
My challenge to myself was to look for something interesting to photograph and especially to concentrate on signs. One of the more interesting signs we saw when we passed through the town of Oates, SC. If you know anything about goes on behind these gates - please let me know.
Some other signs that caught my or my wife's attention:
A Pepsi sign in Coke land
Bar.Grill
KK
Hoe repair
Miscellaneous shots around town:
We Buy Gold
Come on in
Another set of signs on the outer reaches of Florence at Mars Bluff provide a link to history from the 1950s.
A link to an old newsreel video about the bombing. - the day the USAF attacked South Carolina.
Some of my wife's family lives in Mars Bluff. When we were visiting her cousin we found a Slick dog and a less than seaworthy boat. In fairness to her cousin, I have to write that the boat is not his, it was a mess left him by his father - we call it Tommy's Folly.
A shot of something not falling apart:
The Florence museum
Sunlight on a table at the Lamplighter Restaurant where we like to eat breakfast:
So, if you are passing by Florence on I-95 and it is time to eat, turn off the interstate, skip the national chain restaurants, and try some of the local places. We think you will like them; and, the small towns in South Carolina offer very good photographic opportunities.
Not a very exotic journey but one that yielded some photos. Florence is located in northeastern South Carolina at the intersection of Interstate routes 95 and 20. The town was originally formed as a railroad terminal and the train whistles can still be heard all times of the day and night. The purpose for our visit was to see my wife's family who has been living in this area of SC since before Florence was founded.
These photos do not represent the best that Florence has to offer. I am more attracted to the old and run down rather than to the new and shiny (give me rust and peeling paint). One of the high points about visiting Florence is the good, inexpensive food that is available. In addition to the wonderful BBQ, there are a number of very good non-BBQ serving restaurants. Many of these restaurants are run by families with Greek heritage. Their mission seems to be to provide their customers with good fresh food at a low price and they succeed.
My challenge to myself was to look for something interesting to photograph and especially to concentrate on signs. One of the more interesting signs we saw when we passed through the town of Oates, SC. If you know anything about goes on behind these gates - please let me know.
Some other signs that caught my or my wife's attention:
A Pepsi sign in Coke land
Bar.Grill
KK
Hoe repair
Miscellaneous shots around town:
We Buy Gold
Come on in
Another set of signs on the outer reaches of Florence at Mars Bluff provide a link to history from the 1950s.
A link to an old newsreel video about the bombing. - the day the USAF attacked South Carolina.
Some of my wife's family lives in Mars Bluff. When we were visiting her cousin we found a Slick dog and a less than seaworthy boat. In fairness to her cousin, I have to write that the boat is not his, it was a mess left him by his father - we call it Tommy's Folly.
A shot of something not falling apart:
The Florence museum
Sunlight on a table at the Lamplighter Restaurant where we like to eat breakfast:
So, if you are passing by Florence on I-95 and it is time to eat, turn off the interstate, skip the national chain restaurants, and try some of the local places. We think you will like them; and, the small towns in South Carolina offer very good photographic opportunities.
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You did a great job and I loved this tour of small town SC. I'm curious about that gate, too, but that coupled with the shot of the bomb sign makes me wonder if the ground just has one big target painted on it.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
I enjoyed the essay on your visit to Chernobyl. You captured a feeling for the site and the surrounding area. Thanks for posting it.
I have not yet found out any more about the sign on the gate. On my next trip to the area I plan to visit the small town near the gate to see what people know. Google maps does not show anything very interesting behind the fence. But, I do not know when the aerial maps of the area were last updated. I know a lot more about the dropping of the bomb. My wife Ella was the person who was hurt when bomb exploded. While the scars on her face have faded, the memory of what happened has not. The links below give more information about the bombing of Mars Bluff.
http://www.esquire.com/ESQ0505BOMB_122?click=main_sr
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2000/5/2000_5_50.shtml
http://www.historyonair.com/episode_detail/HP001.htm
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,868306-1,00.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=PlYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=life+magazine+mars+bluff+bomb&source=bl&ots=5lUdqUfxRy&sig=fg7C72s-km3UGYvtXYghtth43oE&hl=en&ei=Th_tTJWFDoKclges9ZT-AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.archive.org/details/1958-03-13_Dead_A-Bomb_Hits_US_Town (old theater news reel)
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