TOM POLAND - South Carolina Country Roads

FOREWORD

A CERTAIN EYE

I T TAKES A CERTAIN EYE to see beauty in the abandoned, the collapsing, the forgotten. But Tom Poland has that eye, as well as a camera to document these things before theyre gone for good. He also has the curiosity to find out what these monuments to life and land once were. Who came to this general store with the roof falling in? Why are cemeteries surrounded by cedars? What makes these heirloom tomatoes heirloom?

The truth is, everything Tom has given us in this book is an heirloom, whether its a rusting iron bridge you can no longer cross or a 1940s gas pump long gone dry. Even winters dreamiest camelliasblooming in genteel competition in history-soaked Edgefieldare fodder for his eye and mind. Consider Tom a triple threat on the page: he researches, he photographs and he tells us things we never knew. And Lord, can he write. I suggest succumbing to your comfiest chair with your favorite beverageTV offto wallow in his words. Pick a chapter, any chapter, and read out loud. Its clear the back roads of South Carolina have captivated this visual and literary artist.

Tom would probably dispute those words, but artist he is. He may call himself an explorer, a time traveler, a blue-collar historianand he is all those thingsbut the man has a gift hes been lavishing on readers since 1978, four years after he crossed the Savannah from Lincolnton, Georgia, to make South Carolina his home.

Friends, we are richer for his move. In these pages, he takes us places weve been too lazy or blinded to see, too world-frazzled and work-focused to go. How many times have you seen a side road with a strange name and wanted to turn, go down it, see whats there? How many times did you say not now, no time, Ill come backonly you forgot until you passed that way again? And then you repeated the whole aggravating thing?

South Carolina Country Roadsmight trigger you to finally take that turn, divert you from your routine, breathe some new air. It might prompt you to stop at that store that always got your attention, talk to that friendly person behind the counter, learn you have things in commonmaybe even people in common. It might even inspire you to write your own story, take your own photos andheres the kickergive them to someone who will treasure them.

Thats what Tom has done with this book. Hes collected South Carolinas crumbling treasures and put them in one place for our posterity, giving them context and honor. Its a sad truth that memories die with the people who hold them. This book fights that reality. So does its beautiful language. Sink into this passage from A Train Rolls through It, about Toms sojourn in Branchville: Percussive clacking and airy weeping goes the night train anthemhow mournful in the dead of night, how lonely to those in blackened countryside lying in beds. Perhaps a few envy the travelers piercing their night. To what magical places do they go?

Its Tom Poland whos making the magic. Hes unlocked an invisible door into a world many of us in cities and suburbs rarely see. And this world, this place called Obscurity, is even more fascinating because it exists right alongside us. At least for now.

Ada Rogers

Columbia, South Carolina