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University of South Carolina Press - Tom Poland

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179 pages

English

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A pictorial essay that showcases the natural beauty of the Palmetto State and its inhabitants

From the Appalachians to the Atlantic, South Carolina's awe-inspiring beauty is revealed in this visually stirring and heart-warming tribute to one of America's favorite vacation destinations. Rich with more than 250 stunning photographs, this second volume of Reflections of South Carolina uncovers the geological, natural, and cultural grandeur the Palmetto State packs into 32,000 square miles. A foreword by New York Times best-selling author Mary Alice Monroe complements the photographs and text.

In a landscape abundant with waterfalls, rivers, lakes, and surf, South Carolina overflows with flora and fauna, as well as astonishing vistas. On their new journey, photographer Robert C. Clark and writer Tom Poland set out on a path of discovery that reveals charming country stores, water-powered gristmills, enchanting meadows, and extraordinary people and places. From angles high and low, this keepsake book illuminates the state's summits, swamps, shores, and islands that brim with life, beauty, and culture. Turn the pages and explore the mountain majesties, fruited plain, and shining sea—South Carolina holds so much of what makes this country "America the Beautiful."

Reflections of South Carolina, Volume 2 documents the state's surprising variety as well. You can stand atop Sassafras Mountain in August and yet feel fall's chill or walk Charleston's cobblestone streets in shorts in the middle of February. Clark and Poland advise visitors and residents alike to take their time exploring South Carolina and whenever possible to take the road less traveled—for the next turn might reveal an antebellum-era slave chapel, a farmer peddling honey and tomatoes, a mountain's reflection in a sparkling lake, or a peach orchard exploding pink. What could be next? A praise house? An unforgettable character? Art on an abandoned boat? Discovery makes a great companion.

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Publié par	University of South Carolina Press
Date de parution	13 juin 2014
Nombre de lectures	2
EAN13	9781611173949
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	40 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,2250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Photographs by Robert C. Clark
Text by Tom Poland
Foreword by Mary Alice Monroe
Reflections of SOUTH CAROLINA
VOLUME 2

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS
© 2014 University of South Carolina
Published by the University of South Carolina Press Columbia, South Carolina 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14       10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
The Library of Congress has cataloged volume 1 as follows
Clark, Robert C., 1954–
Reflections of South Carolina / photographs by Robert C. Clark ; text by Tom Poland ; foreword by Walter Edgar.
    p. cm.
ISBN 1-57003-344-7 (alk. paper)
1. South Carolina Pictorial works. I. Poland, Thomas M., 1949– II. Title.
F255.C58 1999
975.7—dc21           99-6608
Volume 2 ISBN : 978-1-61117-393-2
978-1-61117-394-9 (ebook)
Publication of this book was made possible, in part, by a generous gift from the Friends of the University of South Carolina Press.
Dusk in the Lowcountry TITLE SPREAD
Contents
Foreword
Mary Alice Monroe
Preface
Acknowledgments
The Upcountry Realm of Peaks, Vales, and Falls
The Heartland Country of Rivers, Sandhills, and Shores
The Lowcountry Province of Marshes, Moss, and Sea
Foreword      A State of Awe and Wonder
S outh Carolina is an ancient land, born of rock and sea. Rivers, spawned high in the mountains and fed by rain and melted snow, gush over boulders and between rocky ridges, cascading down to form even more rivers and sets of streams that flow lower into the state's watershed, the Atlantic Ocean. We gave these terraced landscapes names: the Piedmont, foothills of an eroded mountain chain of sedimentary rock; the Sandhills, the beach dunes of a prehistoric coastline; the flat and fertile land of the Coastal Plain; and the Coast, the seductive and sultry Lowcountry where the sea caresses a vast carpet of swaying marsh grass and warm sandy beaches.
Life teems in this rich ecosystem, breathing in and out with the tides, living and decaying to form the soul-stirring sights and pungent scents of what South Carolinians associate with home .
Not only our geography, but our history is tied to the sea. The graceful, tall ships brought the first visitors to South Carolina's shore. The port city of Charleston became a glittering jewel of wealth and culture unparalleled in the original thirteen colonies. It was also the port of entry for 40 to 60 percent of Africans brought to America during the slave trade. Their African culture and the sweat of their backs formed the great rice agriculture and plantation history that helped shape the people, society, history, economy, and culture of South Carolina. The warships of the War for Independence, the American Civil War, and two World Wars, as well as the nuclear submarines of the Cold War, slid through our waters like so many sharks and marked South Carolina's significant and important role in American military history.
Ours is a living history. It surrounds us. Wherever we turn, we run into a monument, trip over a historical marker, or face some clue of who we are and where we came from. Living here means having one foot in the past and one in the present. We hold our history dear, our traditions close. But we also carry the burden of our past. This is a land that suffered military and economic defeat and the legacy of racism.
But, in the fullness of time, all histories fade and nature prevails. Travel along our coast, and witness how the sea rises and pushes back. Dynamic sand spits—Bay Point Shoal, Crab Bank—shift and are swallowed. At Castle Pinckney rocks crumble, and the wild pushes up through the stones, determined to survive. Hurricanes baptize the land with wind, and the wheel of time turns round and round, all proving that change is a part of a nature. As our state's population rises with sea levels, our challenge is to revere the past without falling into the trap of nostalgia, lest we ignore the urgent, pressing questions facing our future. Faulkner stated, “The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.”

Mary Alice Monroe
South Carolina is a state of inspiration. Our rich and complex history and the power of our landscape form the palette of our state's meaningful and profoundly inspiring culture, traditions, our values. Poets, writers, artists, and craftsmen flock to our storied cities and breathtaking landscapes, each desperate to capture in words and color the source of an exquisite revelation. We all feel it. We stare, mouths agape, at a vast sunset of hallucinatory colors. High on the Blue Ridge Mountains, we witness a vista that dares to touch the hem of the angels. Standing at the shoreline, we look out to where the sky joins the sea to blend into a seamless horizon. In the face of infinity, we feel miniscule yet undiminished. We lift our faces to the sun. We resonate to a higher power, a universal knowing that binds us all, human and beast.
These are the gifts of South Carolina. The land and sea offer even the poorest of us a king's bounty. Yet with these gifts comes the notion of noblesse oblige. The noble spirit seeks to preserve and protect, not for gain or recognition, but simply because it is the right thing to do. Marjory Kinnan Rawlings wrote, “The earth may be borrowed, but not bought. It may be used, but not owned. It gives itself in response to love and tending, offers its seasonal flowering and fruiting. But we are tenants and not possessors, lovers, and not masters.”
In South Carolina we put great value on our landscape, our history, our traditions. We hold them in our work-worn hands to protect them, care for them, preserve them, so that we in turn may pass them on to our children, and they to their children to enjoy for generations to come. Thousands of acres of woodlands, wetlands, farmlands, urban parks, and historical sites have been conserved. We must continue the good fight. When we talk about protecting tourism, outdoor recreation, and quality of life, we are discussing conservation. Stewardship and service. These are not merely our call to action—they are our privilege.
I've sat on the beach beside a sea turtle nest with tourists and residents alike while the moon and stars shone overhead, the surf rolled in and out, and the mosquitoes hummed, waiting for a sea turtle nest to emerge. People asked countless questions, not idle curiosity but born of a sincere desire to learn. As I crouched near the sand to check the nest, I turned my head and looked up to see a child watching me, eyes as wide as saucers. Farther up I see the eyes of the mother, the father, the grandparents, every bit as full of awe and wonder. Nature makes children of us all.

I hope this book of reflections with Tom Poland's words and Robert Clark's photographs offers the opportunity to discover and learn more about South Carolina's historical charm, her out-of-the-way vistas, her unsung secrets, her community festivals, her art, and her endangered species. And more, her proud history of stewardship and service. With knowledge comes commitment and an awakening of our moral imagination. This is our watershed moment.
Conservationist Baba Dioum tells us, “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.”
I believe in my heart that whether we are “come-yahs” or “been-yahs,” we all hear the state's siren song. We all come home to South Carolina.
Mary Alice Monroe
Isle of Palms/October 2013
Preface
O f the fifty states, South Carolina ranks 40th in size. No Alaska for sure. Not even an Iowa. Nonetheless it's stunning how much geological, natural, and cultural grandeur the Palmetto State packs into 32,000 square miles. Her mountains, hills, plains, swamps, shore, and islands brim with life, beauty, and culture. Her back roads harbor hidden jewels, country stores, gristmills, history itself.
How best to appreciate the splendor? What if you could fly from the mountains to the coast like a thermal-riding red-shouldered hawk? From your launch atop the Blue Ridge Escarpment soar over the Upcountry into the Heartland to the Coastal Plain's ancient dunes. Behold those ridges flatten into primeval sea bottom as you approach the Lowcountry, where your shadow ripples across green marshes. Fly o'er silver breakers. See the Atlantic roll beneath you. Then descend on a pristine island set jewel-like in the Atlantic.
Take wing over a minicontinent called South Carolina. Or explore it on foot with us.
There's much to discover in this land of blue streams, sea dreams, and moonbeams. Rich with waterfalls, rivers, lakes, and surf, South Carolina overflows with beauty, flora and fauna, astonishing vistas, and surprising dispositions. In August you can stand atop Sassafras Mountain and feel fall's chill. You can wade through surf on a wild barrier island and come across loggerhead sea turtle tracks. In February snow blankets peaks even as tender green jonquils break through. Frost glazes leaves as people in sh