South Carolina Country Roads: Of Train Depots, Filling Stations & Other Vanishing Charms

by Tom Poland, Aïda Rogers (Foreword by)

Overview

Venture off the beaten path down forgotten roads and discover where a hidden South Carolina exists.

Time-travel and dead-end at a ferry that leads to wild islands. Cross a rusting steel truss bridge into a scene from the 1930s. Behold an old gristmill and imagine its creaking, clashing gears grinding corn. See an old gas pump wreathed in honeysuckle. Drive through a ghost town and wonder why it died. When's the last time you saw a country store's cured hams hanging from wires? How about a vintage Bull Durham tobacco ad on old brick? Author Tom Poland explores scenic back roads that lead to heirloom tomatoes, poke salad, restaurants that were once gas stations, overgrown ruins and other soulful relics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467138864
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	04/16/2018
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	1,070,012
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Tom Poland's work has appeared in magazines throughout the South. Among his recent books are Classic Carolina Road Trips from Columbia, Georgialina, A Southland, As We Knew It and Reflections of South Carolina, Vol. 2. Swamp Gravy, Georgia's Official Folk Life Drama, staged his play, Solid Ground. He writes a weekly column for newspapers and journals in Georgia and South Carolina about the South, its people, traditions, lifestyle and changing culture and speaks to groups across South Carolina and Georgia. Tom grew up in Lincoln County, Georgia, and graduated from the University of Georgia. He lives in Columbia, South Carolina, where he writes about "Georgialina," his name for eastern Georgia and South Carolina.

Table of Contents

Foreword: A Certain Eye, by Aïda Rogers 7

Introduction: The Road Less Traveled 9

Wreckage Along the Back Roads 23

Cedars and Cemeteries 29

A Drive through the Backcountry 33

An Open-Air Cinema Shines On 37

Down a Graveled Road, Part I 41

Down a Graveled Road, Part II 47

A Country Store Carries On 55

The Upcountry, the Beautiful 57

A Fondness for Old Gas Pumps 61

Wall Dogs' Ghost Signs 67

A Train Rolls Through It 73

Salters: A Whistle-Stop Kind of Place 77

The Old Hand Pump 79

Willington: A History Village 83

Down in Camellia Land, Part I 85

Down in Camellia Land, Part II 89

The Mortgage Lifter 97

That Tantalizing Smoke 103

From a Back Road to Backwaters 109

Searching for Promised Land 119

Follow the Red-Shouldered Hawk 127

Vanishing Tenant Homes 131

Sojourn into Spanish Moss Country and Beyond 135

Like Going to Africa 147

Down by the Catawba River 149

Epilogue 153

Index 155

About the Author 159

Editorial Reviews

"""Who knew there could be such beauty in train depots, filling stations and other vanishing charms?



Tom Poland did.



The well-known author, journalist and speaker has proven it in his latest book, South Carolina Country Roads: Of Train Depots, Filling Stations & Other Vanishing Charms.



Tom spent the last several years doing the photography and writing for this latest book by driving the backroads of South Carolina.



Because he doesn't like being on the interstate, his ventures off the main thoroughfares open up all kinds of possibilities to see what so many, otherwise, would miss.



There are hidden treasures in a ghost town, a rusting steel truss bridge that takes the reader back to the 1930s, and an old gas pump covered in honeysuckle. It's not often if ever anymore, you see cured hams hanging from wires at a country store."" Talk of the Town WISTV "




"Poland captures the essence of Rural Life in South Carolina Country Roads." T&D News




"With characteristic modesty, South Carolina author Tom Poland might deny it, but he shares a kindred spirit and eloquence with late New England poet Robert Frost. Both he and Frost have been drawn inexorably to the road "less traveled and that has made the difference" to both of them.



He easily persuades like-minded travelers to join him on the way. "The real South Carolina and the South in general is still out there. While it's true that interstates relegated once-busy highways to back-road status, think of that as an act of preservation. The Columbia Star "

From the Publisher