another town that time forgot

while driving home from south carolina with chris and amber we happened upon this little nearly-ghost town just off highway 72. it was so alluring in its decrepitness that we turned around and stopped off for a look and a few snaps. nothing was open, not a huge surprise considering it was after all a small town in the deep south on a sunday, but more eerie was that, peering through the dirty storefront windows, it seemed as if the shops had not opened their doors for several years. there was a grocery that had some more recent looking branding visible, but the spice section looked like it had last been refreshed around the time i was born. there were no signs of life near the main street besides ourselves and the creepy pick up truck leering down at the end of the road. i think maybe we saw a few kids walk past in the distance, but that was about it.

kind of beautiful and sad, but not atypical. every state in the south has towns just like this - with little main streets that once upon a time were something, but now they are half-closed, half-dead, or completely deserted. something about a ghost town makes me very nostalgic and a a bit sad- considering that to be ghostly implies that there was once life. i wanted to post these polaroids, but thought it rude not to credit the name of the town, which i never caught while we were there (like who was i going to ask?). i noticed the other day the partial reflection of a store front sign (what appeared to say pettigrew hardware) - googled it with the state name and - eureka!- calhoun falls, south carolina. it used to be a mill town, until the mill closed down. the red dot grocery store has been run by the same family for over 100 years. maybe that was when they last refreshed the spice rack.

i have no idea what this shop sells when it is open,
but the dolls certainly gave me the heebie jeebies.