how can you get the right answers if you're asking the wrong questions???

Kingstree is one of the oldest towns in South Carolina, and it is heartbreaking to see a place I love slide to its demise.  One late Saturday, I went to Bowen's Island with friends from Kingstree.  If you have never been, please come to see the unbelievable view.  Describing the fish house as rustic is understatement.  No heat, no air, stand in a forever line to order, limited menu, etc.  But they come.  We stopped to talk to the owner/manager, Robert Barber. He lived in Columbia for a bit and ran for state office at some point. Now he lives on Folly.  We talked about Kingstree and how many creative minds (Goldstein, Us (yes, us), influential politicians, and the like hail from the same small community.  We posed the problem then about its slow death and the people who live there that manage some degree of denial.  If they are fortunate enough to have money and privilege, life is okay.  They live a compartmentalized life.  If they belong to the majority, those suffering from a lack of education, discipline, hard work, and opportunity, they numb-out on alcohol, pills, risky behavior, jail, and lethargy.  They are preyed upon by those who have.  They live the life of victim and pacified infant, and the cycle repeats itself.  The lack of clean food, the inordinate amount of pesticides and chemicals, less than stellar medical care, racial tension, lack of education, lack of jobs, trash everywhere...that's what it is about?  I have always felt that in order to heal a situation, one must have the proper diagnosis.  Healing Kingstree would require therapy.  Yes, somebody needs to be on the couch.  Then, action.

Scout Cabin Early 80's

I realize that Darla Moore has transformed Lake City with her money and influence.  And, I'm happy about that.  But, truth be told, I have never cared for Lake City.  Kingstree had so much more class and elegance.  It seems they are throwing the last of it away.  I would move back in a New York minute if there were only a small contingent willing to insist that trash is unacceptable, crime does not pay, pride in where you live is necessary, the arts are alive, real food heals you, giving back makes you feel better, educators are not babysitters, victims can change, beauty in one's surroundings is important, responsibility for what happens belongs to you, old buildings are worth fixing, there is enough for everybody, and neighbors make a place strong.  I think it is interesting that Kingstree dates from 1732 and the nuns from the Catholic Church are basically doing mission work in the year 2016. Old money still lives comfortably in denial (albeit on the edge), and the uneducated underclass gets angrier and angrier. And they let our beloved downtown fall into ruin, one building at a time.

I love my hometown.  I love it's feel, its history, the streets, my memories, the people, and its potential. But somebody is fiddling while Rome burns...

Can it be saved?

Old School

Salters, South Carolina

Photo Credit bettersouth.org

Wee Nee Bridge at Baker's c.1900

"It is only shallow people who do not judge by  appearances."                                       -Oscar Wilde

             "Every man's memory is his private literature."                                       - Aldous Huxley