Cemetery details

Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC 

I did my walk yesterday morning at Magnolia Cemetery. It was so bright and contrasty that the pictures looked much too cheerful for a cemetery stroll so I played around with black and white and concentrated more on details. I was hopping and skipping with delight to see the bird's nest in the angel's book. Perpetual care indeed!

Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance - Virgin Mary Baptist

Virgin Mary Baptist Church, Allendale, SC  

Say what? You must admit this is an unusual name for a Baptist Church. I once gave a friend a calendar I had designed of Lowcountry churches and I was reminded that I had not included a single Catholic church in the selection. Today's candidate for Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance certainly sounds Catholic but is indeed a Baptist Church. I don't know of any other Baptist Church named for the Virgin Mary. The sign was quite a surprise.

Just the facts, ma'am

Heriot St., Charleston, SC 

For all the backroad sights I look for, I happened on a Roadside America listing right here our own backyard. This one is mentioned on Roadside America and I tracked it down this morning. 

An old cypress tree stood at Grayson S. Carter's lumber business in the 1930s on this land. The "tree" is now a branchless center trunk on a concrete slab, with an embedded wisdom plaque. 

Crepe Myrtle Blossoms

Crepe Myrtle blossoms in Charleston, SC 

Crepe Myrtle blossoms. Our consolation prize for the heat of summer. 

Monkeying around

Button Museum, Bishopville, SC

I was talking about blood donations with one of my volunteers at lunch today. The folks at my table were comparing bruised arms from needle sticks and I am always slightly ashamed that I don't participate in blood drives. I never have.

I am a generous person and try to do what is called for to help someone in need but I have always feared I would have to check off every alert box in the donation screening questionnaire. Have you lived overseas - yes. Travel - yes, India and more. Hepatitis - yes, as a child. Had a pet monkey - YES!

His name was Esau and he was the coolest. He chewed gum, rode the dog like a cowboy, spanked the puppies, wore a doll sized red cape like a super hero and regularly got me out of church with his wicked antics. I would sit with my monkey on the back porch in the evenings wrapped together in a tartan shawl and play a bamboo flute that was answered from dark hillsides across from us. Good times.

Photo below of my father with a couple of our monkeys.

A star is born and died

Cresent Motel, Allendale, SC  

I haven't been posting much downtown Charleston in the Charleston Daily Photo series lately but heck, it's been too hot to walk until right before dark so I run around my neighborhood at dusk. Meanwhile I will try to entertain you with fun shots from my backroad albums. I love these rusty old signs on the abandoned motels up and down the old highways. Seems like someone should be buying them up to refurbish. Not me, but someone.

Edit: Interesting discussion came up on facebook as to whether this was simply a typo that became permanent. I am not the first or last person to get the image. Here is an old postcard when it was in business.

Then I found this key for sale on ebay with Crescent spelled the usual way. Perhaps Room 3 had special meaning for someone and they will turn over $16 for it.

Red dot, dot, dot...

Liquor Store, Allendale, SC 

This scene called for a quick stop to fill two things on my roadside check list - red dot stores and tiny concrete business buildings. I'm like a roving Santa check, check, checking off my odd list. 

Red Dot Stores AKA Liquor Stores: Ever wonder why in South Carolina liquor stores have red dots as their sign? It started with Jesse Fabian a liquor store owner from Charleston and his sign man Alford "Doc" Wamsley. In 1945 the legislature enacted the requirement that sign lettering for a liquor store sign could not be any large than six inches high and four inched wide. After painting the correct size lettering on Jesse's store, they thought the letters were too small to be seen. Inspired by a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes, Doc painted a red dot around the lettering. It spread all across the state. The reason you see a lot of stores using three dots with the letter A, B and C (one letter on each dot) is it stands for Alcohol Bureau of Control, the agency that oversee liquor stores. If you ask a local for a red dot store or a ABC store, chances are they will know what you need.

No large envelopes allowed

Sycamore Post Office, SC

Send me a letter but keep the envelope on the smaller side if you plan to mail it from the tiny, little post office in Sycamore, SC. Isn't that cute? The house next door had the same color scheme so I am assuming the post master or mistress walks across their yard to work. I like the nice touch of the table and chairs so you can catch up on the gossip while you wait for your mail.

Carry on cute stuff!

Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance - Bishopville

Bishopville, SC 

This Sunday morning's Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance is a sweet chapel in Bishopville, SC. Truth is I don't know if it is still a chapel or used for other purposes. It caught my eye and I grabbed the shot but didn't see any sign although it appears to be maintained and in use. I wondered it is was a personal residence but it still has the crosses on the front which suggest it is still church property. There was a large church on the corner across the street so it may be a satellite building. Lovely little chapel.

Edit: According to the every helpful SCIway site, the Chapel used to be the St. Johns Catholic Church but has indeed been converted into a private residence.

I am sidetracked with a pulled back muscle this weekend and walking like a cripple. Blah. Still got a decent walk in yesterday but slow start this morning. No housekeeping or gardening will be accomplished today and I am okay with that.

Stay cool kids!

Bloom with Grace

Sunflowers, West Ashley, Charleston, SC   

Going, going, gone. The last of the sunflowers reaching to the sky at the Magnolia Road community garden.

A little further down the road on Sycamore Rd but well within my walking distance will be the location of the new West Ashley Farmer's Market. Woohoo! Good news for me.

West Ashley Farmer's Market: Not to be left out of the local farmers market boom that has spread throughout the Lowcountry, West Ashley is finally getting its own weekly bazaar starting Sept. 14. Running every Wednesday from 3:30-7:30 p.m. until the end of October, the West Ashley Farmers Market looks to expand upon the success of its downtown predecessor by bringing fresh, local goods to Ackerman Park at 55 Sycamore Avenue. 

Cane - Charleston's Rhum Bar

Cane Rhum Bar, 251 East Bay St., Charleston, SC  

Long time Charleston residents will hardly recognize the former infamous Big John's Tavern on East Bay Street in it's new reincarnation as CANE Charleston's Rhum Bar. It is full of color, tasty rum drinks and food. I felt very lucky to be invited to a sneak preview party this evening. I tried the Black & Stormy and the Cane Daiquiri and samples of spicy beef pastries, salted codfish fritters and jerk chicken skewers. It will be a happy addition to East Bay area offerings. 

Charleston Eater has some great photos and menu links. Chef/owner Paul Yellin welcomes guests to try Cabe on August 2. Let me know what you think!

Tin can alley

Antique Barn, Camden, SC 

The metal work critters were so colorful they called for a quick roadside stop at the Antique Barn in Camden, SC. Owls, chickens, goats, dogs and lighthouses oh my!

We've had a long stretch of over 90 degree weather. 

Didn't quite make my 10,000 steps. Almost but not quite. 

The Button King - Bishopville, SC

Button King Museum, Bishopville, SC 

Since we had driven all the way to Bishopville, SC on Saturday we had to check in on all the local attractions. After leaving Pearl Fryar's topiary garden I plugged the coordinates for the Button Museum into my gps and steered my friend Rosie directly onto a dirt road that led us for a few miles through back fields and farmland. I was a little skeptical when we started to hit deep ruts and running water on the side of the road but sure enough we came across a Button Museum sign. 

The property was a peaceful farm land with two Quonset huts and not a soul in sight. Luckily there was a paper sign on the door inviting us in to explore - and we did.  There was a set up video to play of Dalton Stevens on the Johnny Carson show in his button suit, two cars - one a hearse, two caskets, a piano and an outhouse all solidly decorated in colored buttons. We had a good laugh and I got a kick out of getting the button shots. It takes all kind to keep this world of ours spinning!

Roadside America: When Dalton was 53 years old - he's now in his 80s - he developed chronic insomnia. "Television went off at two in the mornin' back then," he recalled. "No more TV. I didn't have nothin' to do." To pass the time, Dalton found an old denim jumpsuit and started sewing buttons on it. He kept sewing for almost three years. He still couldn't get to sleep, but he had a jumpsuit covered with 16,333 buttons.

After running out of room for buttons on the suit, Dalton discovered the allure of contact cement. He glued 517 buttons on his shoes, then 3,005 on his guitar. Next he covered a banjo, then a piano, then his 1983 Chevy Chevette (150,000 buttons). Insomnia became an asset. "I wouldn't quit. I wouldn't stop," he said. "I'd go four and five days and never go to bed." The suit, and all of his other button-covered items that followed, are now displayed in the Button King Museum. Dalton opened it in 2008 in a building (built by his children) next to his home.

A Man Named Pearl

Pearl Fryar, Bishopville, SC  

I've had a good day.  A long drive in the country took us to Bishopville, SC. I'd been aiming for lunch at Harry & Harry Too but it was closed on Saturdays and we found good BBQ and fried flounder at Watford's BBQ.  Our goal was Pearl Fryar's topiary garden. I've been a fan of Mr. Fryar since I'd seen the documentary about his mad talent for trimming bushes into topiary shapes in the documentary "A Man Named Pearl" and I was so pleased to actually find him working in the garden and happy to visit and talk with us. It was such an honor and a treat that I am still smiling about it.

Link to Documentary.

Since the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar has created fantastic topiary at his garden in Bishopville, South Carolina. Living sculptures, Pearl’s topiary are astounding feats of artistry and horticulture. Many of the plants in Pearl’s garden were rescued from the compost pile at local nurseries. With Pearl’s patience and skilled hands, these “throw aways” have thrived and have been transformed into wonderful abstract shapes. Pearl Fryar and his garden are now internationally recognized and have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, television shows, and even a documentary, A Man Named Pearl. Today, the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden draws visitors from around the globe.