Maybe the reason the photo seems a little ominous is because it is black and white. Where was this taken? Hint: It’s in South Carolina. Send your best guess to: feedback@statehousereport.com and make sure to include your name and hometown. If possible, write “Mystery Photo” in the subject line.
Last week’s Mystery Photo was a humdinger. We figured people would guess, as Steve Willis of Lancaster did, that it was a corner store in Charleston like many that flourished in days gone by. (Some of them are coming back.)
But we were absolutely flabbergasted when we got this reply from Harvey Shackelford of Newberry:
“That building is located on the corner of Carolina and Perry streets in Charleston, S.C. My father had a small neighborhood grocery store in that location in 1936, and we lived in the house adjacent to the store. I attended the second grade at Mitchell Elementary School, and our family went to what was then the Rutledge Avenue Baptist Church. Both were within a block of our home. My father’s business was unsuccessful in the Great Depression and we moved elsewhere the next year.
Veteran photo sleuth George Graf of Palmyra, Va., also correctly identified the photo, but noted, “This was the most difficult of your Statehouse mystery photos thus far, at least for me. I just happened to luck upon this place after a number of hours of searching, first eliminating most of South Carolina towns then narrowing the architecture down to the Charleston area, then the tedious process of searching streets and map views, then going street by street with Google street and satellite views. Whew !!”
- Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
Poinsett Bridge in Greenville Co.
This is Poinsett Bridge, built in upper Greenville County ca. 1820. It is said 500 men – free and slave – worked on the State Road. This isn’t verified. The Poinsett Bridge is one of three bridges built on the State Road in Greenville County. There were also five culverts built as well. The two nearest Poinsett Bridge remain. One is very small, the other is about the size of the Bridge, but the river opening in quite a bit smaller.
Poinsett Bridge was actually open to traffic until about 1950 (perhaps later, but 1950 is the latest I have yet documented.)
In addition, it is my belief that it very well be the oldest bridge standing in S.C..
Enough identification?