A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
This week Google was making news with the release of a new app. PhotoScan is designed to capture old photos from photo albums, with algorithms to enhance the photo and minimize glare. I have tons of old photo albums from Laura’s family and from my own family, and I’ve been trying to find the most efficient way to digitize these images with the best possible quality. I figured I needed to give PhotoScan a shot.
Here are my first impressions…
I was in serious need of some hydrotherapy. I’d been in a funk ever since the election. To make matters worse, wildfires in the mountains of North and South Carolina had cast a pall of hazy smoke over everything. I told someone that I guess it was appropriate that the world looks like Mordor now that Trump has been elected. Add to that all of the other anxieties in our family life right now, and it was time to hit the water. I was able to find some solace, but it came at a price.
Back in September Dwight Moffitt and I had taken a tour of the historic Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia. The tour was interesting, but since it was at night you couldn’t really see any of the headstones or features. The tour focused on the people, and not on the features of the cemetery. Dwight and I decided that we needed to return during daylight. So, we made plans for another visit, and also planned to throw in a tour of several other historic cemeteries while we were at it. This past Friday was the date we’d set, so I headed on down to Columbia to rendezvous with Dwight. I picked him up at his house, then headed downtown where we had several stops planned.
I had been trying to track down a place I’d seen on an old map. The Temple of Health was the name of a community and a post office, but it originally applied to an old inn on a stage coach route. The Stage Coach Inn was purchased and renamed for mineral springs on the property that supposedly had medicinal properties. After my initial research I had tried to visit the location of the Temple of Health near Antreville, but I hadn’t found anything. I had discovered that the original inn had been moved to a resort near Toccoa, Georgia. It was time to actually visit the Temple of Health.
So, I was intrigued by this random name on a map. I had to find out more about it, so I had done some initial research. Now it was time to see if there was anything left of the old Temple of Health.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Antreville and the Temple of Health are small communities. I knew it wouldn’t take long to cover those areas, so I added a few more targets to my list to justify the trek down to Abbeville County. My plan was to head down to drive pretty much straight down to Antreville, check out a few sites I had tagged, then meander back through Anderson County by way of Lowndesville and a few other spots north of there. As usual, there would be discoveries along the way.
Read More “The Temple of Health: Ground-Truthing in Antreville” »
We just got back last night from a quick trip down to Florida. Laura had a four-day weekend because it’s Fall Break at Furman, so we took the opportunity to head down and assist her sister Amy with their mom. It was also a birthday weekend for both sisters, so we tried to work in a joint celebration.
I was out and about searching for examples of buildings designed by 19th century architect Edward C. Jones. I had visited three locations in Henderson County, including the Mansouri Inn, St. John in the Wilderness, and Calvary Episcopal. It was now time to close the loop and head back to South Carolina. I only had one more target related to Edward Jones, but I was far from done with explorations.
Read More “In Search of Edward C. Jones – Part 3, the Trek to Spartanburg” »
In Part 1 of this series I took a look at the legacy of Edward C. Jones, a South Carolina architect who until just a few weeks ago was unknown to me. Having done a bit of research, I decided it was time to do a bit of ground-truthing. Wednesday was an absolutely spectacular fall day, despite an oncoming hurricane, so I wanted to take advantage of the weather while it held. My ramble would take me on a loop up through North Carolina then back down through Spartanburg. As usual on these rambles, I made discoveries I never intended, and met some cool people along the way.
Read More “In Search of Edward C. Jones – Part 2, the Trek through Henderson County” »
Bennie Waddell and I have been trying to keep to our paddling schedule, even though we haven’t been able to make it work every week. Regardless of whether or not we can actually paddle that day (sickness, weather, conflict, etc., etc) I think it’s important that it at least be on the schedule. We’re more likely actually to hit the water than simply saying, “Oh we need to do X someday…” Wednesday the stars aligned, and we were both able to take the trip up to Lake Jocassee that we had missed last week. It was an excellent day of paddling.
The Upstate Minis have been organizing some fantastic trips, lately, and I’ve been trying to take part in more of these. A few weeks ago Laura and I joined them for their X-Files Mystery Tour to PARI. This time, Jeff Goodman planned a trip down to the “Boneyard” on Bull Island to do some dawn photography. Sadly, Laura wasn’t able to go with us because of work. So, on Friday I swapped the Subaru for her Mini and joined the rest of the group for the drive down.