Marks Photo Travels - now at marksphototravels.blogspot.com!

In the first part of this series, I started out in Unio n, in the second part I visited Buffalo ,  and now I'm on the way to West Springs. Heading toward West Springs on the Buffalo-West Springs Highway, I found a few old country stores that were new to me. I took photos off all but one, only because I didn't see a safe place to park at the time. I also made a small detour from the highway to visit this old service station I found on Panoramio . Now in West Springs, the first point of interest I encountered was Whitehead's Store. The GNIS database shows another school named West Springs School down Bogan Road, but all I saw in the area of the old school's location were ranch-style houses. Possibly it have been the one in this framed photo hanging at the Union County History Museum: Also in West Springs is the West Springs Community Center, once West Springs High School. I found a photo of this school in the South Carolina Insurance Photo Archives: To the right is a a...

After spending a few hours in Union  in my last post, I traveled the short distance over to Buffalo and the ruins of the Buffalo Mill. Most of the mill has been torn down, leaving only two towers. The mill and associated buildings in the area form the Buffalo Mill Historic District and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Photos taken during the listing process show the mill while it was intact: Construction on the mill complex and its associated buildings began in 1901, and finished during 1902. The buildings that still remain are the two towers, the nice looking office... the company store building, ... and the company drug store building... After the mill closed for good in 1994 , the mill (except the towers), the icehouse, the powerhouse, and the warehouse have all been torn down. The National Register's photos show what the buildings looked like just shortly they were torn down. Google Earth's 1994 view shows an aerial view of the mill, the ice factor...

It's the first Saturday after Labor Day and it's time again for my yearly adventure to rural Union County and the Uniquely Union Festival in downtown Union, South Carolina. With the move from the Union County Fairgrounds to downtown Union a few years ago the festival has evolved away from a BBQ centered festival to one with more variety of events designed to draw more people. The main draw for me remains the Taster's Choice event, but first I visited some familiar points of interest. The exact placement of the festival areas changes every year, and the parking area I used last year was now vendor parking. I ended up parking behind the courthouse, giving me an easy opportunity to take a quick photo of Corinth Baptist Church . Corinth Baptist Church , built in 1894, is the first church in Union to house an African-American congregation. In recognition of its importance to Union's history, the church has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1984....