Grantieville, SC

As an avid Cyclist one of my favorite places to ride to is Graniteville because it gives me a good 14-mile round trip workout. Most people know me for making trips on bike to Edgefield or Montmorenci, but before I could do that the challenge was riding as far as Graniteville. When I moved back to Aiken County in 2005 this was actually considered a long trip for me. The first time it did take a toll on me but now days it's nothing for me.

I've carried my camera almost every time I went there and despite the fact that the mill no longer operates there's still several photo opportunities there. I discover something new almost every time.

We all know about the train wreck that happened in 2005. I wasn't living in Aiken County at the time but my dad was hunting in the vicinity of Vaucluse at the time. I also knew several people in this town already and had some family in close vicinity to the accident.

I mentioned I have pictures as old as 2005 and some of these shots can never be repeated again because certain parts of this town have changed that much. The differences in the pictures may be small but if you can't find them I'll point them out in the text below.
This was in September 2005 before the mill closed. Very different scene now as the grass has already started growing through the pavement. This was the Spur line that the train wreck happened on. The place where I'm standing when I took the shot Is just about where the locomotive's made impact. The recent road changes also eliminated the railroad crossing in the background.
How the scene over here hasn't changed much at all. These structures still stand, but the grass isn't maintained. That's expected for an old mill though.

This was the switch that was improperly aligned and caused the train wreck. I always tried to catch it when it had a train on it but never got lucky. I knew at the time that it wouldn't be long before it was closed, but I guess there are some things you just can't accomplish.



These aren't authentic old photographs. I hate to disappoint you if that's what you're looking for. These are from October 2005. I manipulated them into a sepia color. I do have a color photo somewhere but I can't find it. If I eliminated the date and copyright signatures from the photos, I might could pass them off as old photos if printed on a special kind of paper. This building I believe was a rebuild of what the mill used to look like. It was a historical version of the mill if I'm right. This part was torn down and doesn't exist today. I haven't seen any other photos on the internet of it so I figured I'd share what I have.
This shot is from November 2005; the difference here is now the crossing is gated and the tracks are shifted a few feet. Two Months before the Graniteville train wreck somebody driving a small car decided they didn't have to wait for the train. The train hit their car killing all five people inside instantly. Until they installed gates, every I saw a train coming, I kept seeing people run the crossing. I was always worried I'd end up witnessing an accident here.
Here's a little shot I especially framed in June 2006. This was back when the train tracks divided canal street. All Northbound traffic on the left and all Southbound traffic was on the right. If you look at this photo real good it shows just that happening. The Silver car is in the far lane on the Northbound side. You can also see a red wrong way sign. Wrong way drivers were common, because coming back from Vaucluse if you were southbound you'd have to turn and cross the tracks. Otherwise if you just went straight you'd be going the wrong way. It was really easy to make that mistake to. Now the wrong way signs are gone. The road above the wall is both northbound and southbound however the street just in front of my position is still southbound. Also that green sign has been moved, and several railroad crossings pulled up.

The Mill was closed a few days after I took the train shot above. Obviously, the mill closing left several unemployed not only in Grainitville but all over Aiken County. Business as an American Textile mill was already miserable and the train wreck damaged the mill. Despite the money they received from Norfolk Southern for damages, they couldn't stay in business. However Avondale still owns the water in Graniteville. From Vaucluse pond down to the creek they own that. Nobody can swim in it, nobody can hunt or fish on it. In addition Avondale still owns the water system. They won't own it very long and that's a good thing. They unfairly increased the water rates by 700%. This is just sickening seeing that several of these people lost their jobs and already have trouble keeping up the bills. Now the water company dose this because they want more money. It won't be long, Avondale will no longer own the water system by next year but I guess you can consider the water rate increase an unfair parting shot to an already wounded town. I hope the local politicians get their way and get these ridiculous increases axed.

This image was taken on November 11, 2006. This is a memorial to the victims of the train wreck. Something about getting this picture at night is a lot better than in the day. I don't have a close up of the scriptures on the monument so I guess that adds me a "to-do" next time I'm over there.
This is a gamma adjust photo manipulation I did in 2007. The Actual image was taken on October 27, 2007 I thought the water tower made an excellent backdrop with the sunset.
This small spur line was also pulled up. Back in the days of the Southern railway it was more often used for passenger trains. I only saw it used one time and was occasionally for leaving freight cars. I don't have any images of that.This was the fate of the infamous switch, and yes it still stands in the same place. But I figured I'd get a close-up of the tag on it.
Even-though the mill is no longer operational the Graniteville company flag still flies under the American flag. Some of the offices are actually manned as well so there are some people who work on parts of the mill and what their jobs are I don't know.

EST. 1845

Steven's steam plant's steam valves are still intact. Much of the mill is starting to look just like the Clearwater finishing plant. It's only been a few years to but that's all it has taken.Grass is already growing through the bridge on the spur line.This fire hydrant dates back to 1942.

This was actually more recently. This is the gate to the Gregg plant and I was wondering why it was wide open. Looks like an open invitation for any illegal trespasser to just waltz right in and do whatever they want. Many windows are already shattered as well.

I spot these geese out here a lot here. It's a sign nature is taking it back.The Canal hasn't changed much at all.

The access road through the mill is still open to traffic.
Grass growing through the pavement.
Late day always cast a big shadow.
This is a private access road to the mill.
Despite the fact that most roads going into the mill were closed this one road that goes straight to the accident site isn't and these were offices not with boarded windows and nature is already reclaiming it after just more than three years. I'm an urban explorer but whenever I see a sin on certain roads that says no trespassing I don't go down them. I keep it legal and don't go on any property unless I have permission. Many urban explorers trespass and that's illegal. I stick to the road.
This I believe was a drop box of some sort.
I like to call this the super structure of the mill.
This was Steven's steam plant's water tank. It can hold 394,800 gallons of water.
In some places this mill looks still operational with people coming in and out of the offices but in others it beingins to look more and more like the Clearwater finishing plant which you'll see in another blog later. This right here is the very ugly part. To me it looks like an Earthquake happened here.
The cross at the accident is another memorial to the victims. It probably won't be too easy to view before too long because the growth is getting thicker. Hard to believe that five years ago this was all a paved parking lot.
However on the bright side this area of the old mill no matter how trashed it may appear, it is still possible to produce some awesome sunset images. One example was this one above when I saw that the cross on topthe church lined up with the sunset.
As far as the trains this is the section of track that now curves when they shifted it over. It creates an awesome curve shot. If your camera has a 10x or higher zoom you can shoot a train clearing it all the way from Vaucluse highway just like I did here.
This is GVW's prize engine, and boy this is one nice Ford.
I took this during their annual Christmas parade.

Finally we visit the graveyard. This place is even little creepy in the day. Many of the oldest graves date back before the civil war. The above photo is the Grave of "The Unknown boy." Sadly around 1855 this sick boy, believed to be about five, was found on a train at the Warrenville station. Appearntly he was so sick he couldn't talk. How he got separated from his family is unknown. Where he came from is unknown as well as obviously his identity. Back in that day the technology to track missing children wasn't as good so chances are if his parents did contact the authorities the chances of the child being tracked were very slim. The boy succumbed to his sickness and the town donated money to have him buried here. The Grave is located at the Southwest corner of the Graveyard. People leave toys and pennies at the site. In fact when I visited I was looking for this specific grave and while on bike I actually passed by it four times without noticing. Someone had taken most of the toys off the grave and that's the description I was given, so that's what I was looking for. When most of the toys I'd seen in a previous picture and a few changes caused by vandals it really threw me off. The Epitaph was turned around backwards to further my searching problems. I learned from looking at many graveyards that vandals really have no respect. I've seen graveyards where someone literally drove through it and destroyed head stones. It's really upsetting to think oh how disrespectful people can get.

I have one video I posted and a few videos others posted that I'd like to show here. Remember how I said some parts of the mill are still active? Well a week ago I was riding around on bike at night. In the video below you can hear gas churning through the lines in front of the Woodhead division plant. The Woodhead division happens to be the most active remaining part. There are still lights on there so there is some kind of business there but what it is I still don't know. Only problem with this video is you can hear my footsteps loud and clear so you have to listen good to the quite parts. Some rumors say the new owner may turn it into a water park.

In addition to some stuff I also out that someone made a song about Graniteville. It gives me the creeps to be honest. It's a folk song and it dose serve its purpose real good. I'm not the biggest folk fan, but I'll give something a chance. I found it as actually both a creepy but meaningful song.

Also for many old Grantieville videos you can check out this youtube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/imokb1

Sorry it took me so long to post this but college has had me busy.

~Joseph W. Johns

The Vaucluse blog is next!

Montmorenci where the tracks end!

I'd like to start my first blog out with a trip that I made on bike about a year ago. I'm well known by most of my peers from Midland Valley High for being able to ride several miles on bike and on this day I had a personal record of 52 miles on the day. However, most of that trip was a 38 mile round trip to the small town of Montmorenci SC, where I not only came for the accomplishment but to check out the area because I hadn't been there in a while and I was wondering how it changed since.

Another side note I wanted to follow about the time was I didn't yet have my driver's license, but at the same time the Southeastern United states was experiencing a gas crisis because of the recent hurricane Ike, which had closed down oil refineries so, many gas stations actually didn't have gas. Even if I had my license at the time, I wouldn't have been able to get gas at the time. I'll post images in this blog not only from on the way there but even one that shows how the gas stations re-acted to no gas.

September 27, 2008

Earlier that day I had already rode from Bath to Graniteville which made up the first 14 miles on the day, and I have pictures from Graniteville that day but, I will not include them in this blog. (I will have a blog from my Graniteville stuff coming up.) In this post you will see photos a few from downtown Aiken but mostly the small town of Montmorenci, which even a few people in Aiken County don't know where it's at.

So once again just about 3:00 in the afternoon I wanted some more and, after riding 14 miles at noon I decided that wasn't enough travel for the day. I wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been in a long time and the small town of Montmorenci was the place I wanted to look at.

Prior to leaving Bath, I basically followed S.C. hwy 421 til Warrenville. Turned on S.C. hwy 191 going into Graniteville and then on to U.S. hwy 1 I was heading Northbound. Highway 1 is kind of famous for being the highway that travels from the Florida Keys to the Canadian border. However, my memories of trying to ride bike down highway 1 from Langley to Graniteville remind me of a Death trap. I don't suggest cycling on that part of the highway unless it's necessary. I'm a well experienced cyclist who has been in many situations over the years and certain parts of highway 1, still scare the death out of me from time to time. So, obviously I only ride this route when I have to.

Before reaching Aiken I notice a Junkyard full of old truck. Many of which look like they could be restored. Even one funny looking creation across the street.Imagine that a 4-wheel drive station wagon! It looks like the people who run this junkyard are a little crafty as well. As you can see it is taller than that Ford Truck on the left but, I don't know if the thing actually works. I believe it doesn't because last time I remember it is still parked in the same place.


Next these two old fire trucks even caught my eye among the junk. They look to be possible to restore but instead they will probably be scrapped.

This junkyard is mainly a truck junkyard so from time to time you can find all kinds of old heavy-duty trucks sitting here. Unlike classic cars most of these trucks don't get saved and preserved, instead they get crushed and melted down for scrap metal.

As I mentioned earlier in the blog I'd show you an example of the gas crunch at the time.
After passing the junkyard I passed this gas station. This is the circle K on U.S. Highway 1. The fact that the station placed $0.00 on the price counter can be deceiving that they are giving away gas, ha, ha you wish! Most people know better than that because who would really give away that kind of thing? The gas stations were doing this to show that they were out of gas. So I'd have to say if you're looking at this picture, now just for laughs, "YOU DID NOT MISS OUT ON FREE GAS." In fact didn't miss out on any gas because there was nothing here just like most of the Southeast Aiken was no exception. When the refineries close a large portion on the country will be feeling the effects and hurricane Ike all the way in Texas, really can cause a gas shortage. Just like Hurricane Katrina in the gulf did in 2005.

I went through Downtown Aiken following U.S. 1 and U.S. 78 then splitting off onto park avenue where I have one image from Aiken.
I crossed Park Avenue here and when I took this picture I was actually standing on a wooden Bridge and yes cars can cross it. However, there is a weight limit as expected. Norfolk Southern still operates through here though only p22 actually uses these tracks to switch cars to the R-line which Goes from Augusta to Columbia. But one day If I get lucky to catch it passing under here it would make a nice shot especially in the fall.

I followed Park Avenue down to the end where I rejoined U.S. 78 which I would follow all the way to the town of Montmorenci.

The railway line seen through out this is actually the old line to Charleston often known as the Hamburg-Charleston line. It was 133 miles long built in 1833 and at the time it was the longest railway line in the world. It was used up until the 80's when Norfolk Southern retired the line but not the whole thing. Through out the rest of this post I'll show which parts are still active and which parts aren't. The train that was famous for traveling this line was the Best Friend of Charleston, and back then railroad tracks weren't made of T-rail, but instead something called strap Iron. If you'tr wondering what Strap iron is I have a picture right here from Augusta, Georgia that I'll show you in another post later.

Before I go any further a lot of you may be asking "where is Hamburg?" Hamburg was a town in the river right across the river from Augusta, GA. Henry Shultz the founder hated Augusta and created it as a rival place to trade. The town was successful for a time, but the area both towns are located in is a flood prone area. By 1929 Augusta built a Levee to circumvent the waters from the city, however hamburg was unprotected. When the 1929 flood rolled in, it destroyed Hamburg completely and I mean wiped it off the map. Some remains that are left are the old supports from a train bridge which can bee seen from the river walk paralleling the 5th street bridge. I'll post those photos in another blog as well, because this one isn't about Hamburg.

Continuing toward Montmorenci, I pass this silo. The ventilation fans are still running and it is still in use.The core of Montmorenci seems to be framing because along U.S. 78 there is a lot of farm land.
This section is still in Service.In light of the gas shortage I passed an old gas station. This one I believe has been closed since the 90's. Though the store itself looks like it's barely modern to the 80's. On one of it's old pumps it says "93 Octane" which came out in the 90's if I remember right. The place don't look very looted or vandalized but more like unmaintained. The roof probably leaks by now I would assume. But you won't be able to buy gas here anymore weather there is a shortage or not.

After passing through Montmorenci I go two miles out of town down U.S. 78 I reach the end of the line. I'm going fast because daylight is going quickly at this point and I won't have much time to get good shots if I don't hustle.This was mile marker 51 counting down. That means at this position I'm 51 miles outside of Charlestown. This is where the tracks end. However the whole Charlestown line wasn't pulled up once this old trail reaches Branchville it comes to life again because a Line from Columbia to Charleston actually joined onto it and it is still active, meaning that the Branchville section of this line is still active. You can also see my old mountain bike that I made the trip on in the background.This is the entrance to a small chemical factory of some sort, I forgot the name. here you see the tracks are no longer here however, there is an old crossbuck sign still standing guarding for what never comes. On an interesting fact if you looked at the call tag on the crossing you'll see it has a sort of new Norfolk Southern tag on it and even a crossing number. The train will come to a spur in this area only to switch cars but it will not go beyond this point anymore.

Before turning back with the last minutes of daylight left I decided to go after one more shot just a half mile down the road.
This is how an old railway line looks after more than twenty years of abandonment! Nature reclaims it pretty fast with pine trees growing up very fast. You can still find Granite rocks, spikes, and many other old things. In fact on my second trip I found two old spikes.

Well that's all for now but I do have a video from my 3/21/09 Bike ride to Montmorenci and if you want to see it here it is. Keep in mind I was batting .100 mentally that day so I made a few mistakes such as not adding certain clips and saying the day was 3/31/09. To sum it all up I made several mistakes because it was a one man project and doing it all is kind of hard for one person.