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BLUFF ROAD

(06/29/05) -- Columbia, SC --BLUFF ROAD---Children play on their bikes outside Milligans on Bluff Road. “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.
It’s a place where brothers come out at night to light up their homemade basketball court; where children pick fresh strawberries and blueberries each summer; where people rise at the crack of dawn to meet at a local diner; where tourists from around the world come to explore one of the country’s most unique attractions – the Congaree National Park.

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(06/29/05) -- Columbia, SC --BLUFF ROAD---Children play on their bikes outside Milligans on Bluff Road. “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.” <br /> 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.<br /> It’s a place where brothers come out at night to light up their homemade basketball court; where children pick fresh strawberries and blueberries each summer; where people rise at the crack of dawn to meet at a local diner; where tourists from around the world come to explore one of the country’s most unique attractions – the Congaree National Park.
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