Step 4: Pick Your Favorite Marion County Photo

"This photo was taken for a tour of the Centenary area of Marion County by the Pee Dee Chapter of the SC Genealogical Society. In 1975, the Florence Morning News detailed the history of the brick building shown at left, writing 'If you need a collar for your mule, a cast iron frying pan, a pair of blue jeans, or a pack of potato chips, the Davis Brothers store at Centenary is where you can find it. The weatherbeaten brick building is one of the last of a vanishing breed, the country general merchandise store. Marion County's oldest continuously operated business, the Davis family store has been supplying their friends and neighbors with groceries, clothing, hardware, and farm supplies since 1867."

"The photo of the rustic tobacco barn in the field is the basic typical design of the old flu-cured tobacco barn. The barn would have multiple tiers inside for the drying tobacco to be hung from. This barn is on a farm near the Smithboro community about five miles outside of Mullins. Many of the old tobacco barns have been left to rot away slowly or have been torn down, but some have been saved and converted into usable buildings and even into homes."

"Mullins, which was founded in 1872, was first known as the Mullins Depot. The community grew up as a result of the opening of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad in 1854. Land for the railroad's buildings and for right-of-way was given here by William S. Mullins. The railroad was very instrumental in the city's growth. With the growth of the tobacco industry in and around Mullins, the city became known as South Carolina's largest tobacco market when tobacco was king. Many of the old tobacco barns and warehouses, as well as the railroad, are slowly disappearing. I hope that this photo will show the beauty and history of a time long forgotten to many."

"The Mullins Depot was opened as a result of the opening of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad in 1854. The original wood-framed depot was built in 1901 and was remodeled in 1931; this is the building standing today. The Mullins area has always been a farming community. In the late 1800s the city of Mullins consisted of only a few business. One of the early businesseses was the turpentine industry until the introduction of tobacco in 1894. The photo depicting the old Mullins depot also houses the present-day tobacco museum in Mullins."

"In this photo a willow oak with an inviting swing dwarfs an old farmhouse located near the Little Pee Dee River. The house is representative of a typical Marion County family farmhouse built during the years between 1900 and 1950. At maturity, willow oaks reach or exceed heights of over 100 feet."

"The old train trestle depicted in the photo is part of the old Wilmington and Manchester Railroad line which connected towns like Mullins, Marion, Nichols, and numerous other farming communities along the way. The old trestle crosses the Little Pee Dee River between Mullins and Nichols and should be labeled as one of this area's old swimming holes. Summer after summer, before swimming pools scattered the neighborhoods of today, local kids would swing from ropes and dive from the sides of the old trestle into the Little Pee Dee River after a long day in the tobacco fields. I can remember my dad telling me stories of how they would go to the trestle to swim, and I can also remember the first time I went to the old trestle to swim. In this day in time those days have almost long been forgotten."