Unusual Towns of Prosperity To Promised Land On Backroads of South Carolina - / Old West Town & MORE
South Carolina Backroads
Transcript
0:03
welcome everyone adam the woo here as a
0:04
recording of this friday
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january 14 2022
0:09
got to keep etching that in my head
0:11
drilling it in there
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2022
0:15
still take it takes a while remember
0:16
back in the day when you would write
0:18
handwritten checks
0:20
it would take you about a month to to
0:22
get to the next year that's kind of how
0:23
it is with state of these at the
0:24
beginning of every episode
0:26
2022 i am starting here in prosperity
0:31
south carolina
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and i will be venturing over to the
0:35
promised land
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south carolina two little communities
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and i will be taking back roads and
0:42
stopping at other small towns
0:44
along the way i have myself a piping
0:46
caffeinated beverage
0:48
i'm inviting you to join me
0:50
it's a real place
0:52
prosperity
0:55
shall you
1:03
oh that's warm and good a very quaint
1:03
downtown with the gazebo in the middle
1:06
there's a lady sitting over there
1:07
enjoying the morning
1:10
he got the flags in the center courtyard
1:15
and a very unique experience having a
1:17
church
1:18
right here in the middle of town
1:20
sometimes they're a block or two over
1:22
from the downtown
1:24
but this very
1:26
impressive stained glass horse
1:29
is here on this window
1:31
of the church building as seen there
1:38
that's a little different usually don't
1:38
see a building that looks like this
1:41
nor do you see trucks
1:44
rolling right through a downtown
1:47
usually there's a bypass and trucks
1:49
aren't allowed in downtown but a couple
1:51
18 wheelers just just crossed the
1:53
streams
1:54
right there they went by each other
1:56
there's a western auto
1:58
you know it's like true americana place
2:00
when there's a western auto
2:02
in town
2:08
at the insurance agency there and
2:08
there's the bank of prosperity on the
2:11
corner
2:12
that is pretty dang cool look up there
2:14
see it kind of written on the
2:16
on the side of the brick the concrete
2:19
well not the concrete but the brick
2:22
the old etchings of the past
2:24
the bank of prosperity south carolina
2:28
there's also a newer ban banner here
2:31
as well says experience prosperity i
2:34
would like to definitely experience some
2:36
prosperity who wouldn't
2:38
now over against the side of this wall
2:44
is a mural and there's another mural
2:44
down at the end
2:46
but take a look at this building
2:49
the architecture of this
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this is the count a county building
2:59
of some sort formerly
3:01
a bank
3:06
with the eagle there on the after our
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dropbox depository
3:18
check out this other mural over here
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where this car is pulling away from
3:20
next to the laundromat
3:22
a shell of a pay phone pay phone's gone
3:24
but there's a shell there
3:26
where the pay phone was
3:28
and the laundromat also right here in
3:31
the downtown
3:33
area
3:41
got some sheep there or those are pigs i
3:41
thought they were sheeps
3:42
but they're pigs
3:55
probably not pronouncing that correctly
3:55
a very peaceful way of life shown there
3:57
on that mural also classic truck alert
4:09
a very peaceful
4:09
way of life oh
4:11
just yelled at me someone getting out of
4:14
the car down the road they were yelling
4:15
at their friend and it startled me they
4:17
were yelling at me
4:19
this husband and wife here
4:20
this gentleman is reading the paper in a
4:22
rocking chair doesn't get much better
4:24
than that
4:28
it's a pretty sweet ride
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i always think later in life i'm gonna
4:30
i'm gonna get myself a classic truck
4:32
one day
4:34
no time soon
4:36
but one day
4:38
we'll be that exact one for sure but
4:40
yeah i really like this little
4:42
this little area down here
4:57
the old gas station here
4:57
and speaking of
4:59
classic trucks there's another one over
5:01
here with a little
5:02
rust this one's a ford
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and doing a little
5:10
work in the road as well
5:13
yeah take a look at this whole ford
5:20
see i would drive something like this
5:20
obviously a little bit better condition
5:24
i can always tell my see myself in a
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you know one day have a home in a in a
5:29
small town
5:30
a truck like this driving around running
5:32
errands
5:34
it'd be a good life
5:36
when i'm an old man
5:43
just to give some bearings here looking
5:43
at the atlas you can see the tip of my
5:45
glasses here
5:48
is where i'm at i'm going to go over to
5:50
newberry it's about you know eight miles
5:52
or so from here and then some back roads
5:55
kind of veering this direction
5:57
westward
5:59
of columbia and then ending up
6:01
greenwood and then down into this area
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it's not even on the map
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is the promised land promised land south
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carolina
6:09
kind of right next to bradley is where
6:12
where that's going to be so starting
6:14
here
6:15
and venturing across i don't have my
6:16
little orange pen i left it at the hotel
6:20
so i'm using this as the as a pointer
6:22
it's my glasses the top of my glasses
6:25
yeah i was like using a
6:27
an atlas and it's kind of windy so i
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have my phone over there propping so the
6:31
so the atlas doesn't close stopped off
6:34
in the town of newberry now
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look at this
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take some home today
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pointing at the coca-cola there
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oh here's a little information
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on the mural itself
7:03
the design was circuit 1942 but it was
7:04
restored in 1999 and restored again in
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2004
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and then restored again
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in 2016.
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three
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restorations right here in newberry
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i like it i also really like the design
7:20
of the fire department over here across
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the way right across from the mural
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kind of gives me some hollywood-esque
7:30
type vibes
7:32
maybe it's just me but it reminds me of
7:33
something you see in
7:35
hollywood
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population here is about ten thousand
7:39
still not a
7:40
still not a big city by any means
7:44
but this opera house is something else
7:47
right in the town square and not only
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the community's name but also the county
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name newberry county was one of six
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counties
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created from 96th district back in 1785
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and you got the
8:02
augusta brick down here some newer ones
8:04
and then some older
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augusta brick right there
8:08
next to the figaro figueroa
8:11
market
8:13
very colorful and then over here
8:16
is a place called bergens
8:18
and then hal cohen's bookseller
8:21
mural there painted on the side
8:29
take a look over here
8:29
oh and here's a
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here's a little information on the
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distances so columbia
8:34
is 45 miles how far i drove i stayed
8:36
there last night drove over
8:38
and then you got edgefield hamburg and
8:40
lawrence all 40 62 and 33 miles
8:44
away
8:44
over there doing
8:46
someone's doing a little work i heard
8:47
some
8:48
equipment
8:50
bergens
8:59
this children was also reading the paper
8:59
saw one in the next town back
9:02
an older couple was reading the paper
9:04
enjoying the day and this guy is reading
9:06
the observer
9:21
now looking at this it almost looks like
9:21
a antique neon but
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almost looks like it's a new neon as
9:26
well
9:26
i know the age on that but check out
9:28
this building called
9:30
purcells
9:32
i can't tell almost almost looks as if
9:34
it's made to look like a throwback
9:37
and there's an old theater over here
9:39
called the ritz
9:50
so we're about furniture pour some
9:50
concrete here
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let's have some concrete board here on
9:53
the sidewalk and over here at livingston
9:56
service center i'm noticing
9:58
this classic car
10:00
that is being worked on with the hood up
10:07
right over there at this gas station
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yeah a lot of classic cars around here
10:09
now this is interesting this general
10:11
mercantile is one of the spots from the
10:14
world famous american pickers on the
10:16
history channel the only reason i know
10:18
that is because it's stated here on the
10:19
window this must be one of their
10:22
one of their spots across the country
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all right i stand corrected it is not
10:28
owned by american pickers but ct summers
10:30
incorporated was seen
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on the show american pickers
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that makes more sense
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look over here there's a mannequin in a
10:38
bathtub full of
10:40
little
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these little styrofoam popcorn peanuts
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or styrofoam
10:46
whatever those are called inside this
10:48
tub
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i don't think i've been in the town that
11:01
i've seen this many classic trucks
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there's a lot look at the banners up
11:06
there and it says 1789 i'm just going to
11:09
guess that's when the
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the town began at 1789. i had to do a
11:13
u-turn i was driving down the way over
11:15
to the next area and past this
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this is certainly worth
11:21
pulling over to show
11:23
you know i showed i've shown a lot of
11:25
coca-cola murals
11:26
that are faded out
11:28
but here is a vintage
11:30
pepsi cola
11:35
look at that
11:35
right there on the side
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faded out that is a thing of beauty
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arrived at silver street now
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the street itself is not silver it's
11:57
made of kind of broken up concrete here
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but silver street is on the outskirts
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well on the outskirts of silver street i
12:05
should say
12:06
is an old miniature western town
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which is not technically publicized as a
12:15
a tourist spot
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but i've heard rumors that it still
12:19
exists so i'm gonna see if i can go by
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there on the outskirts
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so i'm walking down this side road just
12:25
a few miles outside of
12:27
this little community of silver street
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i'll show the fire department over here
12:33
as well
12:35
and just to make sure no one drives up
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in here
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which i parked in the next block over
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they got this little
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little stanchion
12:46
post office right over there
12:48
silver street south carolina
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the only small section i see of a
12:56
downtown
12:58
really doesn't exist anymore the roof
12:59
has caved in
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as shown here
13:07
the fire station i'm looking at the sign
13:07
from here
13:09
it's titled the jimmy kessler
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fire station
13:58
this is nice probably from the 70s
13:58
this type of signage
14:00
got the burger soda and fries there on a
14:03
platter
14:05
closed down silver street cafe also
14:07
appears to have been at one time
14:10
fuel station had gas pumps out front
14:12
you see the little island
14:14
right down there
14:16
where the fuel pumps would have been
14:19
always gives the indication
14:29
a pump there
14:29
and
14:31
pump there
14:36
down the ways a bit
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right next to this field they're doing
14:38
some construction on the road there
14:40
see a gentleman over there with a stop
14:42
sign the name of this dirt road is old
14:45
town road
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and it appears as if
14:52
the western town still exists i can see
14:52
it built there
14:54
beside this house
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there's a lot of buildings over there
15:02
doesn't appear to be an attraction of
15:02
any sort
15:04
private residence
15:06
see if i can see someone out in the yard
15:08
if not go knock on the door
15:10
and ask if i can walk around
15:13
wow look over here
15:16
this is pretty incredible
15:19
there has to be probably two dozen
15:22
facades little buildings
15:25
making up an
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old-timey western town back in there
15:29
kind of miniature version
15:34
now there were some gentlemen in the
15:34
backyard doing some work i thought maybe
15:36
they owned the place and went and talked
15:38
to them tried knocking on the front door
15:40
but the front door isn't really utilized
15:42
anymore
15:43
and said the lady that owns the place
15:45
during christmas time will put lights
15:48
on some of the buildings and i asked if
15:50
i could walk around they said that
15:51
without her permission i couldn't walk
15:53
around so this is about as close as i
15:54
can get that's a return here
15:56
at some point but pretty fascinating
15:58
this old western town here
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the front of this house
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who knew
16:05
hopefully one day i can come back and
16:07
walk around in there
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with permission and definitely don't
16:11
want to go trouncing around through
16:13
there without asking like i said it is a
16:15
private residence but a pretty cool spot
16:18
and the workers
16:20
seemed as if that she's friendly enough
16:22
to let people go on the property
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as stated during the holidays
16:26
she kind of dresses it all up with
16:27
lights
16:33
pretty neat a miniature western town
16:33
i'm driving down old town dirt road now
16:37
just kind of getting a look at it
16:40
hopefully i can come back one day
16:42
take a look at it
16:43
passing over wilson's creek
16:46
here on highway 34 you can see wilson's
16:49
creek down there
16:51
yeah i'm on highway 34 at the moment
16:54
i've been on 34 for a bit but
16:56
i just wanted to show wilson's creek
16:58
down there you can kind of see it
17:00
among the foliage
17:12
directly ahead is the american legion
17:12
in 96
17:17
yep 96
17:19
south carolina you can see it there on
17:21
the side
17:29
walking over to this painting on the
17:29
side here
17:30
here in 96
17:39
a rendition of something that was called
17:39
pender's row
17:40
circa 1923.
17:47
we got the
17:47
mr q murphy clothing
17:55
the popcorn machine there
17:55
on the side a general store
17:57
some candy and seeds and milk
18:05
gentlemen with his corn cob pipe
18:05
and another one wondering why this door
18:07
is closed saying let me know what i want
18:09
to go inside and buy something peeking
18:11
through the window that is that sums up
18:13
window shopping
18:14
in the fullest
18:16
extent
18:18
right there back when shoe repair was
18:19
only
18:21
five and ten or five and dime
18:27
getting some groceries here got to go in
18:27
grocery shopping
18:28
got the grocery bag
18:30
full of groceries
18:36
coin laundry across the way
18:36
yeah look at this coin laundry building
18:37
that's awesome and down on the far end
18:40
is an auto value shop
18:42
but take a look at this
18:45
kind of tiny
18:46
little section here of the brick
18:49
that's unique i like that
18:51
how it's like just a storefront that's
18:53
only maybe eight feet across
18:55
about maybe ten maybe ten feet across
18:57
here at one one twelve
19:14
oh they sell boiled peanuts inside here
19:14
this tow truck right here look at this
19:17
i don't say it's an antique but yeah
19:21
prices tow truck here on 114 main street
19:27
it's like something lincoln hawk would
19:27
drive he didn't drive a tow truck he
19:28
drove a
19:29
18-wheeler over the top but
19:32
yeah
19:37
i could see lincoln hawking see uh
19:37
80s stallone behind the wheel of this
19:38
thing
19:41
it's like a switch it's just a sidewalk
19:43
now as it appears on the other side of
19:45
the former train station
19:47
going along the side here
19:49
one thing that's interesting about the
19:51
name of the town being 96
19:54
you see signs like this and they kind of
19:55
throw you off says
19:57
welcome 96 senior center
20:00
thinking that only 96 seniors are
20:02
allowed in here but that's not the case
20:05
it's just the 96
20:07
senior center used to be the train
20:08
station looking down here on the incline
20:11
of this berm
20:13
appears as if that's where the railroad
20:14
tracks used to be
20:16
right there
20:23
running along here
20:23
crossing over this road
20:25
and right along that little berm there
20:29
right up on there
20:33
guessing that's where the tracks used to
20:34
be
20:47
yeah the road through this section it
20:47
gets a little rough a little bumpy
20:50
managing though
21:16
it has been a few days since i've seen
21:16
an active train
21:18
well waiting for this active one
21:21
passed by
22:48
pulled over here at the sign leading
22:48
into the little community
22:51
yes it's a real place in case you were
22:54
wondering
22:55
i was not making it up i have arrived
22:59
to the promised land
23:03
just about 500 residents in this little
23:12
promised land south carolina
23:12
it exists
23:14
it doesn't seem to be a whole lot in the
23:17
even though there's been traffic going
23:18
by but look at this
23:20
look at this relic of a van right there
23:23
there's also this general store and gas
23:25
station
23:26
that's located in promised land right
23:28
here on the corner and it's kind of
23:30
interesting i mentioned stallone earlier
23:32
in an over-the-top reference
23:35
is right near here next to this
23:36
abandoned homestead
23:43
look at the name of this
23:43
drive
23:52
all he wanted was something to eat he
23:52
just wanted something to eat
24:01
hello from my shadow of course i'm the
24:01
one waving but my shadow
24:03
also
24:04
waving
24:06
this area says close this weekend
24:09
the community of bradley
24:12
is it just this weekend or is this sign
24:14
always here every weekend because
24:17
this area through here
24:19
does not appear to be a real beehive of
24:22
activity then again there is a shelf
24:24
unit right there no products on it
24:27
but possibly a flea market of sorts
24:30
could happen here on occasional weekends
24:49
could be an ant bed but i don't want to
24:49
test that out
25:12
got kerosene you got unleaded plus
25:12
and of course regular there
25:16
showing those gas pumps
25:35
i'm gonna start heading back to
25:35
the starting point of where i began or
25:37
at least back over towards
25:39
my hotel in columbia south carolina so
25:41
right here at the tip
25:43
what i'm showing there bradley is where
25:45
i am and i'm going to venture up this
25:47
road then take 178
25:50
through
25:55
saluda area
25:55
shown there and then continue on that
25:58
until i get back into there so basically
26:01
started over in here
26:03
circled around well started over in here
26:05
circled this way
26:07
and around so i kind of did a circle
26:08
like this this is kind of the route
26:11
that i've done today but currently at
26:13
the moment right here
26:15
the tip of this in bradley and then i'm
26:17
just gonna head this way
26:20
back over
26:21
to this section to my accommodations for
26:23
the evening
26:40
a few good ones here behind this fence
26:40
quite a few good ones
26:58
and take a look up on the back of that
26:58
truck
26:59
that sign there
27:01
nice
27:48
a lot of empty buildings over here
27:48
this one says office
28:01
and a rather large abandoned barn back
28:01
there and a couple other buildings here
28:03
look like they could have been
28:04
homesteads
28:06
back in the day off in the distance
28:13
i don't really know why i'm so
28:13
infatuated
28:45
just like to imagine what it was like
28:46
back in the day
28:48
travelers would pull off here and fuel
28:50
up
28:52
get some snacks for the road
28:59
many years ago
28:59
i just like that a lot of these places
29:00
are still standing reminding us of
29:02
the past
29:08
it's fascinating stops off now in
29:08
another place here
29:09
water tower off in the distance
29:13
i'm gonna meander around the downtown
29:16
section
29:17
see what i can find name of this place
29:19
is saluda
29:21
and as i'm walking in
29:24
well into the downtown the bodybuilding
29:27
club gym aerobics and tanning
29:30
look at this the building itself
29:34
on that little sign is working out yeah
29:36
the building is working out with some
29:38
heavy duty weights
29:40
the gym's still open they have modern
29:42
equipment it looks like in there that
29:44
sign is a relic
29:45
probably from the 70s
29:48
i'm in the shadowed area
29:50
but over there you can see the sun's
29:51
still still out
29:54
for a bit
29:59
saluda sal
30:00
uda
30:01
dating back to 1906 this is the bottling
30:04
plant
30:05
the bottling works
30:08
not used for bottling anymore the
30:10
building's still there
30:22
this painting symbolizes the saluda old
30:22
town treaty back in july of 1755
30:26
the governor
30:27
and the chiefs of the cherokee nation
30:30
the session of territory embraced by the
30:42
symbolizing that event
30:42
back in 1998
30:45
with an artist from
30:47
columbia south carolina
30:49
made his way over here
30:52
and painted this
30:54
and also the county seat
30:57
the saluda county courthouse right there
31:04
a few of these shops are still open but
31:06
a lot of them are closed
31:08
say probably half and half
31:14
drawing me in is this old theater over
31:15
yeah i got to walk over there look at
31:16
that still has the neon there looks like
31:19
there's a recital happening
31:21
at some point
31:24
but yeah look at the old neon up top
31:42
this is pretty awesome too
31:42
promoting air conditioning inside arctic
31:44
air with this penguin
32:02
definitely a few key points i'm always
32:02
looking for in these areas
32:05
always showcase the theaters
32:15
is a good one
32:15
there's another one
32:18
i have seen a lot of old-timey trucks
32:20
today this gentleman's fueling up his
32:22
truck right now
32:24
that'll ford
32:27
and that's gonna do it for today but i
32:29
wanted to show
32:31
back over here in columbia south
32:32
carolina made it back
32:35
pretty close to where i'll be staying
32:36
for the evening back at my hotel it
32:38
isn't this place because this place is
32:39
not open however
32:48
there is a
32:48
antique coke machine right there
33:00
and something i did not know existed
33:00
is right over there on the corner
33:06
this gas station named after
33:06
the former president of the united
33:08
states
33:25
what if there's any other presidents in
33:25
the united states that have gas stations
33:27
named after them
33:35
i'll see the next video the vlog
33:35
is over