NEWBERRY — Take the interstate less, the back roads more. That is what author Tom Poland encouraged the community to do in his lecture on South Carolina back roads and lost traditions Tuesday evening.
“I got really tired working on the interstate highways, driving down interstates. You just don’t see a thing. For many years I’ve been travelling down the back roads of South Carolina working on a big book called Reflections of South Carolina,” Poland said.
When Poland’s mother became ill almost five years ago, Poland, who lived 101 miles away would make the trip to stay with her around the clock. One day he decided he was in no rush to get home and with the help of his co-author Robert Clark, purchased a camera and began documenting his travels.
Poland’s journey down the back roads began with an old country store in Allendale.
He recalled pulling up to the store and setting up his camera when a man came around the corner asking if they needed help. Poland told the man he loved the store, thought it was beautiful and asked if he could take a picture of it.
“He said ‘you need to tell that to the Beautification Committee, they’ve told me to tear my store down, they think it’s an eyesore and I told them if you want it torn down come over here with some crowbars and hammers and have at it,’” Poland said.
A similar situation occurred in Promised Land.
As Poland approached Promised Land he became lost. Once back on track he approached a store in Verdery. He got out his camera to take a picture and a black Pickup Truck pulled up.
Poland explained to the man he was on his way to Promised Land and wanted to take a picture of the store. The store, Poland said, had been in the family for five generations and was 175 years old, the guy was considering tearing it down.
”I said ‘I’m working on a book about the back roads of South Carolina, can I take a picture or two of the store and possibly use them in the book,’” he said.
After much thought, the man allowed Poland to photograph the building.
“Promised Land sounds very biblical doesn’t it? Situation was, there was a landowner that owned some slaves back in the 1840s and he promised them some land when he died and he held true to his promise. Before the Civil War began in South Carolina, over near this part of the world there were some African Americans who owned land, which was highly unusual,” Poland said. “Author James Dickey wrote a novel called Deliverance, Dickey was a great writer and he wrote when you travel some of the roads Jesus will save your soul, people would put signs everywhere you go.”
In the Kingstree area on Highway 521 Poland came across another store. The owner allowed Poland to photograph the store and while talking, the man told Poland he was going to move the store back off of the highway.
Signs reading ‘Turn to Jesus before it’s too late’ and ‘Jesus is no joke’ will then lead travellers to the fist-bumping Jesus’.
“Get off the interstates, take a back road. My mantra is gas mileage will go up, blood pressure will go down. You actually will enjoy the trip for a change. Also suggest, go on a back road by yourself, no one else so you can take your time, stop wherever you want to, take a camera, go home and Google it and write your own road trip narrative,” Poland said.
The journey through the back roads continued on Highway 34, Silverstreet when Poland was searching for Tiny Town, a site where a gentleman took excess wood and made a little town for his children and grandchildren. Tiny Town, Poland said, is a replica of a western village with a saloon, chapel, stable and school.
But first, Poland had to find Tiny Town. He spoke with Patty Dale (P&D Old Country Store and Market) and asked how to get there.
“She said ‘you go on Highway 34, if you go to Chappells you’ve gone too far, just look for the white house on the left,’” Poland said.
The Monticello Mercantile Store was another back road highlight. Poland said when you go to Monticello it is like stepping back into the 1930s.
“Every home had these black clapboard structures, you’ll see outbuildings, fruit trees, evidence of how people used to live. They didn’t go to Publix for their apples, they grew them, every house had a fig tree,” he said.
He also highlighted one of the best jobs he had in Athens, Georgia which would lead to another back road location, the caboose (Branchville). The world’s very first train intersection was in Branchville.
“If you were a ticket agent you were a big shot, if you were a baggage boy you were a loser, we had two baggage boys in 1972-73,” Poland said.
Those “losers,” Poland said, went on to form the rock group The B-52s, making millions of dollars.
Poland then led the community to Harold’s Country Club in Yemassee and Tom Yawkey’s Clubhouse.
Harold’s Country Club was a legendary eatery that has a history as a Chevrolet dealership in the 1930s. On Thursday nights people showed up to Harold’s shop for potlucks and later on steak dinners, which would plant the seeds for Harold’s Country Club.
Tom Yawkey’s Clubhouse, South Island of Georgetown County also proved to be no ordinary place.
“Back in the day he owned the Boston Red Sox, his uncle left him 26,000 acres of land and a lot of money so he came out of New England, set up this place on South Island,” Poland said. “Tom Yawkey had a really nice home there that he and his second wife would come spend the winters in and it burned, they lived in a mobile home while the new place was being built, it didn’t happen. For the next 26 years, he and his wife would come to the Yawkey Place and stay in a mobile home.”
The journey through South Carolina back roads was then taken to Edgefield County which, according to Poland, has a violent history.
“Devil in Petticoats Becky Cotton, the most beautiful woman ever back in the era of all male jurors, she killed three husbands and got away with it every time,” he said.
She was acquitted each time and her brother killed her because he knew she would kill again.
Highway 23 in Peach Country, near Ward, South Carolina, would lead Poland to a cemetery with odd grave markers. Upon researching, Poland discovered that the Smithsonian has a list of the most unusual grave marker art in the country, five of them are here.
Cedar trees also played a biblical role in cemeteries. It is known as the cemetery tree and Poland said when you plant the cedar tree near your grave, when it is old enough to shade your grave you will die.
In Marlboro County, Poland also came upon gravestones made out of bricks. He said there is supposedly a South Carolina Governor buried there, but no evidence of that could be found.
Poland also touched on the importance of outhouses, saying they are great place to metal detect.
“My mother’s people didn’t have plumbing, they had an outhouse, you had to be careful where you put it, you didn’t want the wind to ruin your dinner at night. If you know where some are or were they are a great place to metal detect for several reasons, old folks would actually hide valuables there,” he said.
A very familiar place to those in Newberry County that Poland highlighted was Harbison Boulevard in Columbia.
“I maintain that the interstate system is the worst thing that has happened to this country, it isolated a lot of towns, it tore up a lot of beautiful, environmental places today that we would never touch like wetlands, places where endangered species live and it destroyed a lot of Mom and Pop businesses,” he said.
Poland closed by stressing the importance of taking interstates less and instead opting for the back roads to see the hidden history in South Carolina.
