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Bluff Road

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  • (06/29/05) -- Columbia, SC --BLUFF ROAD DIARIES---"This is where the black warriors grew up - the toughest area I ever lived in," said Ron Ferg.  The retired art educator and local artist was remembering his childhood on Bluff Road while showing off some of his art at Milligans country store, where children played. This stretch of nearly 20 miles from I-77 leading to Gadsden continues its struggles with crime and an inability to find an identity. "We hardly have any landmarks," said Coley Washington, a longtime resident. "But we continue to fight to improve this area." .And fight they do. Take a quick drive down this road and you will get the sense that the starkness you witness as you drive has remained unchanged for years. Take a closer look, and you will discover close-knit families and communities where children still gather around their country store - where an old cemetery is being preserved on the Westinghouse property - where a church is celebrating 145 years of existence. 12galmh01a.
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  • (05/22/05) -- Columbia, SC --Coley Washington walks along some of her family members' graves after Sunday service at Rock Hill AME Church on Bluff Road. Washington, 86, has been attending the church since she was five. She is the last of 11 children living. "I miss my family, but I really miss my sister Vernel," she said. "Every time you would see me you would see her. We used to do everything together. We were close from childhood to adulthood. She passed a year and a half ago." 12galmh01b
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  • Lula McKnight, 65, tends to her clothes at her home on Bluff Road. "I've been on Bluff Road all my life," she said. "It's beautiful to me." McKnight is the matriarch of her family which includes ten children, 15 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She's lived on Bluff Road since 1958. "When I first moved here there was nothing but our home and one across the road. The Myers across the road and the McKnights on this side. It's still that way now, except we have a lot more family." 12galmh01c
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  • (04/26/05) -- Gadsden, SC - --Jay Dove enjoys some coffee at DJ's Diner in Gadsden early one April morning. The diner has been a family-operated business on Bluff Road in Gadsden for over 5 years.
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  • (04/26/05) -- Gadsden, SC --"When we first got into the business it was to make money, but now it's for the people," said Ann Lloyd, owner of D.J's Diner in Gadsden. The diner, named after longtime Gadsden resident JD Lloyd, has been a family-operated business on Bluff Road in Gadsden for over 5 years. "There's been times when we wanted to throw in the towel but the community kept us going. Everyone here has truly become family."
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  • (01/05/05) Bluff Road Diaries - "I'm going to do this till I can't stand up," said Odell Jackon as he finished cutting Bill Dixon's hair at Jackson's barber shop on Bluff Road. Dixon, 76, has been getting his haircut from Jackson since 1973. "I don't know what makes him a good barber but I've always been satisfied." . "Just  being here is unique," said owner Odell Jackson, 58. "You should see all the different people that you meet.".The old building used to be a seamstress shop and a Magistrate's office. "Then I dropped in."
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  • (06/29/05) -- Columbia, SC  ---Brittnay Hampton, 12, left, and Kendrick Hampton, 12, right joke around outside Milligan Enterprise store on Bluff Road. The building has been a community gathering place for many years and was once run by popular resident Herbert U. Blakely. "I remember walking to the store as a kid buying candy and cookies," said Isaac Milligan who runs the store with his father. "Back then you had two for a penny cookies, so you could get a whole lot of cookies for fifty cents. Now working from the store I feel right at home. I feel good about the service I'm doing for the community."
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  • (05/22/05) -- Columbia, SC - --Coley Washington sings a hymn during Rock Hill AME Church's Sunday service. The church on Bluff Road is celebrating its 145-year anniversary this year. Once bustling with members, it now serves as home to a few longtime residents, while still providing God's word and a safe haven for any visitors.
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  • (05/22/05) -- Columbia, SC ---Ron Ferg, a retired art educator and local artist, touches a headstone of what he considers to be an old slave cemetary off of Bluff Road near Rock Hill AME Church Sunday. Berg, who grew up on Bluff Road remembers walking the area for over 20 years until one day discovering the site. "It looks like one family," he said. "Some people say there used to be a church back there. I bet you could find the foundation if you look closely."
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