Category: Local

Local items of interest from Greenville and Upstate SC.

Concrete Heaven

Posted on By Tom 18 Comments on Concrete Heaven
Local

Ware Place Statuary

NOTE: Lately I’ve gotten several questions asking about pricing, inventory, and contact information for this business. I Am NOT THE OWNER, NOR DO I HAVE ANY ASSOCIATION WITH THIS BUSINESS! I just wrote about my visit there.

Seriously, some of you need to learn how search engines work. If a link appears at the top of the list, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s that business, or the link you want.

Now on to the original post…

If it can be cast in concrete, chances are Estelle King sells it. If you’ve ever been through Ware Place, South Carolina, you’ve seen Estelle’s place at the intersection of Highways 25, 418, and 8. The over-sized concrete roosters and horses and lighthouses are hard to miss. The spry 84 year old has operated her lawn ornament shop for over thirty years now, and shows no sign of stopping.

We had driven down Augusta Road to Estelle’s place to find a couple of small concrete cats to memorialize our recently departed felines.  When we arrive, Estelle was helping an elderly (probably younger than she is) woman load a large concrete birdbath into the woman’s trunk.

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Fire Towers – Paris Mountain and Cleveland

Posted on By Tom 10 Comments on Fire Towers – Paris Mountain and Cleveland
History and Genealogy, Local, Photography

My first lookout tower adventure was actually Saturday afternoon, and I decided to hit a couple of local sites. That morning I had called my good friend Cathy Taylor (no relation) who is a park ranger at Paris Mountain State Park. It turns out that she has the same interest in fire towers, and was … Read More “Fire Towers – Paris Mountain and Cleveland” »

Searching for the Towers

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on Searching for the Towers
Geocaching and Maps, Local, Miscellaneous

You would think that something that stands 100′ high would be easy to find.  Certainly, when you’re close enough they are very visible.  However, locating lookout tower sites on maps turns out to be harder than I had thought. I knew of several definite locations such as the Duncan Tower, Glassy Mountain, Paris Mountain, and … Read More “Searching for the Towers” »

All Along the Watchtower

Posted on By Tom 6 Comments on All Along the Watchtower
History and Genealogy, Local, Photography

Duncan Lookout Tower Cab

This is going to be one of those multi-part posts. I’ve got tons of information on this subject, and it won’t be possible to put it all in one story.

I’ve always been fascinated by lookout towers. Near where I grew up in Laurens County there were two small monadnocks called the Little Knob and Big Knob. The Big Knob had a fire tower on it, and I longed to scale its steps and enjoy the view from the top. Some miles to the north is another prominent, larger monadnock with a fire tower – Paris Mountain. When I was around eight years old I did get to climb up the steps, but never made it into the cab at the top. I distinctly remember the trap door being padlocked when we got to the top.

I had forgotten all about the towers until just this past week. I had been looking for locations to do long-exposure photographs of I-85 for traffic trails when I spotted the Duncan lookout tower on the way home from work on Friday. At the intersection of Danzler and Victor Hill Roads it had a perfect view of the Interstate, so I went to explore. I found the tower in the front yard of a house on Victor Hill Road. The fence around its base now had a dog house within, and it was clear that the tower had not been used in years. I gave up on using this location as a photography platform, but now I wanted to learn more about the towers themselves, so a new quest was born.

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Bound for the Promised Land

Posted on By Tom 18 Comments on Bound for the Promised Land
History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Travel

What more could you want?

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye
to Caanan’s fair and happy land where my possessions lie.

I am bound for the promised land, I’m bound for the promised land.
Oh, who will come and go with me, I am bound for the promised land.

The trip was going to be a ghost-hunting expedition for Eric Rogers and me. Eric and I had finally met offline, and were planning a joint expedition to the haunted Rock House just south of Greenwood. Since we would be down in that area, we had also plotted out some other interesting locations. I had flagged one little town, Promised Land, SC, with the comment, “With a name like that, how could we NOT go there?”

Eric was not able to make the trip, but my brother Houston and sister Glynda were able to go. Houston took on the role of Aaron, the spokesperson, with Glynda as Miriam, and me as Moses, leading and documenting our trip. So early Sunday morning we found a suitable radio evangelist and headed for the Promised Land. We hoped we would make it all the way, further than our biblical counterparts.

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The Fine Art of Rambling, Part 2

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on The Fine Art of Rambling, Part 2
Local, Miscellaneous, Travel

Last time I talked about my inherited propensity and motivations for rambling. This time I’m going to be a bit less random, and discuss some of the tools I use for rambling and how I choose particular targets. I love to explore aimlessly, and there is always some component of randomness to any of our … Read More “The Fine Art of Rambling, Part 2” »

Election Eve – 132 years ago

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on Election Eve – 132 years ago
History and Genealogy, Local, Uncategorized

I’ve been re-reading Dr. A. V. Huff’s “Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont.” I’ve just come to the portion about the “Redemption Campaign” of 1876, and was struck by the ironies and similarities with our current election. We may think the Obama-McCain contest has been ugly, but it … Read More “Election Eve – 132 years ago” »