A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
It seems like spring break got away from me without my being about to get out and visit the lookout towers like I wanted. This Friday was one of the best days, as far as weather was concerned, so I was able to visit some of the locations. My target would be those towers located in Northwestern South Carolina, along with any other interested tidbits I might discover along the way. It was a push, but I managed to visit eight tower locations in one day.
I have always enjoyed looking at the photos of Scott West (South Carolina’s Northern Kingdom). Scott and I seem to cover some of the same territory in Laurens County, and I’ve always admired his gutsy trespassing to get great shots of the interiors of old abandoned houses and interesting places.
Recently, Scott posted a couple of pictures of the old Poole Homestead in the Long Branch Community of Laurens County. I immediately recognized the place as being in one of the old photos my Dad has. After a couple of message exchanges it turns out that we do have some distant family connections (don’t ALL Southerners?) and that some of his family had attended Long Branch Pentecostal Holiness, where my father had pastored years ago.
That brings us to this Tuesday. My mother had taken a trip to visit her sisters in North Carolina, so my Dad was on his own for the week. Since I was on spring break, I decided to head down and hang out with him, and see if I could find this photo of the Poole Homestead. I did find it, and we decided to take a tour of some of the old family haunts throughout Newberry and Laurens Counties.
While out driving the rural highways of South Carolina you may have come across a road sign with this symbol… Seeing a road sign like this lets you know that you are on either the South Carolina Discovery Route, or the South Carolina Nature Route, both parts of the South Carolina Heritage Corridor. On the … Read More “South Carolina Heritage Corridor” »
I was reading my friend Duckhunter’s blog about his discovery of a house with “Haint Blue” paint on the porch. Duck does a great job of describing this practice, but it got me thinking about other, similar superstitions. In particular, I wondered if there were other superstitions like this, perhaps some even specific to the … Read More “Very Superstitious” »
Warning, trivial rant ahead. I know this is minor in the grand scheme of things, and it’s not a really big deal, but sometimes it just all goes wrong… Dinner. Supposed to be a simple affair, especially if you’re dining out. That wasn’t the case this evening. Our dinner at Fatz Cafe was a comedy … Read More “Fatz Cafe: Where Everyone’s Irregular” »
For some time now I’ve been searching for a way to host media files without clogging up my storage space here on RandomConnections. Specifically, I’ve wanted a place for audio and for Google Earth files. Being something of a cheapskate, I really didn’t want to pay for more storage on the site, so I was looking for free alternatives. I think I’ve finally pieced together a solution, and I’m ready to go live with it. It’s not the most elegant solution, but it works for me. More importantly, it doesn’t cost anything.
I had tried both Houndbite and Boomp3 for free audio file hosting. For the most part I liked Houndbite, but it was completely unreliable. For the past three weeks it was offline, and just recently came back. I couldn’t use it in my Google Earth demonstrations as I might have liked. Since I was having so many troubles with Houndbite, I tried Boomp3. That is now completely defunct.
The above photo is of a house near my office. It’s a bit blurry because I shot quickly as I was driving past. What caught my attention was the prominent initial “F” worked into the chimney masonry. In a post-mortgage fallout, post-“Flip this House” era, the idea of marking one’s house so indelibly seems quaint, almost laughable.
This is a very permanent mark. In many cases tan colored bricks are built into the chimney structure. Just about the only way to remove the initial is to tear down and rebuilt the chimney. Painting over it only partially obscures the letter, as the bricks that make up the initial are often of a different shape or orientation, so you can still see the outline.
Early Saturday morning a small group of us gathered to paddle Cedar Creek, located in the Congaree Swamp National Park. Instead of kayaks, we decided that would take this trip in canoes. It turned out to be one of the longest paddling trips I’ve taken, covering about 6 miles of swamp, then paddling back.
The issue of which boat to take was only resolved at the last minute. I knew Dwight was bringing his canoe. Whether or not I brought my kayak, or lugged my old battleship 15′ Coleman canoe depended on how many people decided to go. In the end, it was the Coleman, so I loaded it into the back of my pickup with about as much hanging off the tailgate as was actually in the bed of the truck.
Alan Russell and I met James Martin (who had joined us on our last flooded Congaree hike), Dwight Moffitt, and his friend Peter at the put in on South Cedar Creek Road. Dwight and Peter would be in one boat, Alan and I would be in mine, and James had his kayak. The plan was to paddle downstream a bit, then head back. According to Dwight this would take us through some of the more remote parks of the swamp, and away from the crowded boardwalks. Dwight assured us that paddling back upstream wouldn’t be a problem. Yeah, right.
Once, many years ago, I made the statement that while other cities like Austin and New Orleans had cool Riverwalk areas, Columbia had built a penitentiary on it’s riverfront. Fortunately, in the past couple of decades since that statement attitudes have changed, and both Greenville and Columbia have recognized the importance of their waterways and the potential for tourism. While in Columbia this past week I was able to spend an afternoon at the Columbia Riverfront Park, and it was quite a pleasant outing.
The park is located at the site of the Columbia Waterworks, and incorporates historical elements of the waterworks, the Columbia Canal, and the Congaree River. One enters the main portion of the part at the Waterworks entrance, with a path that leads past the portions of the water treatment plant that are still in operation.
So, tomorrow marks the end of Battlestar Galactica. I’ll be watching the two-hour series finale, probably projected on the wall for greater effect. However, I wanted to get some predictions on record PRIOR to the season ending. If you haven’t caught up with the series, stop reading now. There be spoilers here. The plight of … Read More “The End of Battlestar – A Prediction” »