Mullins was founded in 1872, and by the 1920s became the largest distributor of tobacco in America. Today its population numbers about 5,000 (roughly the same as in 1950). Most of its tobacco plants have closed in the last 20 years and the town has lost its only industry.
My mother's family has lived in the town since 1948, when my grandfather moved to the town to work in the mills. I spent many childhood summers in the town and thus have a fond affinity for it. These photos were taken the last time I was in town, in June 2007. Hope you enjoy!
Countryside on the way to Nichols, SC.
Both of these next two houses were once in my family.
Granddad's house. He's 83 and half-blind, but he'll still shoot you if you come in his house uninvited.
This is basically where he spends all his time.
When he's not back here, that is.
By contrast, he almost never comes out here.
He built this over thirty years ago, yet it hasn't served much of a purpose for almost as long.
Inside.
He recently decided to build a driveway to his shed, out of bricks he salvaged from a building that was torn down.
The only 'lawn' portion of his entire property.
His street. Not shown, the front of his house is identical to the one on the left.
The lot across the street that I played in as a kid. The old building was once a municipal gymnasium. It is almost always closed but *occasionally* events still occur inside.
The main residential avenue running parallel to Main Street.
Most of the old houses look like variations of the following:
This is the kind of house I always imagined Boo Radley would live in.
This is its next-door neighbor.
Thrift store and train tracks at the end of that long residential road.
An old tabacco plant on those same tracks.
Heading out towards the by-pass, the 70's-80's strip that sucked downtown's businesses dry. As an aside, I read somewhere that over 50% of South Carolinians now live in mobile homes.
The site of the tobacco plant that my grandfather once ran. It burned to the ground in 1987 and was never rebuilt.
Another old tobacco plant.
While some plants have sat vacant for decades, this one has been converted to other uses, namely, fertilizer storage.
The old plants are starkly beautiful in their quiet state.
The "Updated-for-Modern-60's-Shopping" downtown:
The old train depot, which now houses the South Carolina Tobacco Museum.
It was the Fourth of July, so of course there were American Flags everywhere.
A couple of good Southern restaurants just off Main Street.
One of the finest homes in all of Mullins, once owned by a plant executive.
An old service station on North Main.
Heading away from downtown.
Inside the last store-front.
One from downtown Dillon, SC.
And last, one from downtown Marion, SC.
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