The Morning Routine
November 21, 2023
By Tom Poland Come daybreak, my preferred time to get moving, I check on my neighbor’s flag. I check to see that his place is ok after another night…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: life, on-the-move
The Work Of Hands
November 16, 2023
By Tom Poland Folks say the future belongs to “Knowledge Workers.” A so-called knowledge worker is someone who manages information within a specific subject area. I suppose I’m a…
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Have Fireflies Left Us?
November 9, 2023
By Tom Poland Among sedges and along tree lines, across lawns and fields they’ll soon cease blinking. Maybe they’ve already ended their nights of miraculous lights. The experts say they…
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Coming Full Circle
November 2, 2023
By Tom Poland I felt like I’d been tied to the whipping post. I was as low as the proverbial snake’s belly. May 30 a tornado destroyed my Athens,…
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Upcountry History Museum showcases holiday classic with behind-the-scenes close-ups
October 31, 2023
It’s a holiday classic that almost didn’t make it from book to screen but for a friendship forged during World War II. In its Southeastern debut, “A Very Grinchy Christmas,”…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: chamber, churches, day-care, education, entertainment, food, hospitality, life, marketing-and-communications, media, music, non-profit, on-the-move, social-scene, the-arts, veterans
Catching Up With Lou Miller
October 26, 2023
By Tom Poland No. 87 lay on Buddy Bufford Field as still as a stone. Louis Miller, senior end, had broken ribs, but better days lay ahead. The undefeated…
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Learning Along The Estuary
October 18, 2023
By Tom Poland The children of Sandy Island board a school bus boat for an eight-minute journey across the Waccamaw River to the mainland. There, they ride a traditional bus…
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Waterfall Country
October 12, 2023
By Tom Poland Several hikes proved easy. One proved tougher than nails. By the time we made it to the third waterfall of the day, an idea had firmly…
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The Miraculous Green Lizard
October 5, 2023
By Tom Poland We call it a lizard, except it’s not. It’s an anole, and it can re-grow its tail, “regenerate” in the words of scientists. Think about that.…
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From corn mazes to pumpkin patches, find Fall Agritourism in South Carolina
October 5, 2023
As the weather cools, farms across South Carolina are welcoming visitors onto their farms with a variety of fun and educational fall events. “Agritourism continues to grow in South Carolina,…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: agriculture, life, on-the-move
The Ruins Of Chappels
September 28, 2023
By Tom Poland Highway 34. It’s my route east to places like Ninety-Six, Abbeville, and Greenwood. When I drive Highway 34, I’m in my element—the back roads, but some…
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The Air Collision Time Forgot
September 21, 2023
By Tom Poland I visit forgotten churches more than the church I call my own. I feel a haunting at an unfrequented church, a poignant peaceful feeling. I see…
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Upcountry History Museum dives in with ‘Splash and Bubbles’
September 19, 2023
Explorers of all ages will be able to dive into the incredible world of ocean exploration when “Splash and Bubbles: Dive In, Lend a Fin” makes its only South Carolina…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: churches, day-care, education, entertainment, environmental, hospitality, life, marketing-and-communications, media, non-profit, on-the-move, social-scene, the-arts
Outdoor Men Of Letters
September 14, 2023
By Tom Poland Being a native Georgian, I didn’t grow up reading South Carolina writers. Nor do I recall reading Georgia writers, but I read a lot. Hemmed in…
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A Scrape In The Sand
September 7, 2023
By Tom Poland Sand washes away. Memories last forever. The year was 1982. That would have been South Carolina Wildlife magazines 28th anniversary. I worked in film then and…
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The Beach That Was
August 30, 2023
By Tom Poland From afar the skyline looks like that of a city, and it is. Myrtle Beach’s skyline of hotels seems to dwarf the skyline of all other…
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Lone Star, The Rambling Ghost
August 24, 2023
By Tom Poland I’ve long felt that two of South Carolina’s prettier community names are Silverstreet and Lone Star. Silverstreet I’ve seen many times. Those names, evocative and atmospheric,…
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A glorious journey
August 24, 2023
By Jeff Becraft One of the statements I utter the most these days is: “Well… you see what my wife lives with.” I mentioned a couple of weeks ago…
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Upcountry History Museum presents stories stitched in the seams
August 23, 2023
There’s an art to storytelling and in “We Didn’t Wait for Freedom – The Civil War Narrative Quilts of Vera P. Hall,” the stories are literally stitched in the seams…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: chamber, churches, education, entertainment, life, manufacturing, marketing-and-communications, media, non-profit, on-the-move, social-scene, the-arts, veterans
You’ve Got to be a Friend to Have a Friend
August 16, 2023
By Reba Hull Campbell Every year, I dust off this “first day of first grade” photo taken in front of then-Crayton Elementary School. It makes me thankful for these…
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My Father’s Failed Quest
August 16, 2023
By Tom Poland Dad had a saying. “I won’t let it whip me.” He prevailed over stubborn bolts, obstinate lawn mowers, welding projects, and just about anything that crossed…
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Verizon turbo charges its Greenville 5G network with the addition of more spectrum
August 14, 2023Additional spectrum, available four months ahead of schedule, results in greater availability of 5G Ultra Wideband service, along with better performance and faster speeds. Verizon announced that it now has…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: it-services, life, on-the-move, technology
My Good Friend, Steve Blackmon
August 10, 2023
By Tom Poland Writer’s Note: Steve Blackmon died July 3rd surrounded by loved ones. The writing life introduces me to some memorable people. Steve Blackmon found me when his…
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Chasing The Ivorybill
August 2, 2023
By Tom Poland “Chasing the Swamp Ghost” caught my eye, and I read Garden & Gun’s feature about photographer Bobby Harrison’s quest to capture irrefutable evidence that the ivorybill…
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My SC Wildlife Dream Machine
July 27, 2023
By Tom Poland I grew up in a large hardwood forest in Georgia, and I rambled in woods every chance I got. I saw deer, wild turkey, ducks, and…
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The Day The Sky Fell
July 19, 2023
By Tom Poland A beautiful blue-sky afternoon it was. As I walked back from my mailbox a freshly killed squirrel with half its head missing fell right in front…
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A Favorite Place
July 13, 2023
By Tom Poland Each spring I write of three places, three beautiful places where colonies of rocky shoals spider lilies bloom. One is quite accessible; one is perhaps the…
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Blink Book Review #6 – “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman
July 13, 2023
By Reba Hull Campbell This book caught my eye at the library on a book display for Mental Health Awareness Month in May. The cover and the title drew me…
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Ted & Holly Rollins Scholarship Awards latest recipient
July 11, 2023
The Ted & Holly Rollins Scholarship Organization announced the recipient of its Fall 2023 scholarship, Audrey Smallwood. This scholarship— in honor of the late Ted Rollins and his wife, Holly—is…
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When A Church Dies
July 6, 2023
By Tom Poland Some linger in woods. Some stand, for now, at the end or side of a dirt road. Some hide behind other buildings, and some haunt the…
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Blink Book Review #5: Newsroom Confidential – Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life
June 29, 2023
By Reba Hull Campbell As a lifelong news junky, I love reading about the machinations of a newsroom – How do news stories actually get to the front page? Who…
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Making The Sea Bountiful
June 29, 2023
By Tom Poland Artificial Reefs & Memorial Fishing Grounds Early 1980s, it was. We put out to sink a ship. Waves tossed us about as we headed seaward to…
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Moody Spring
June 22, 2023
By Tom Poland Rounding a curve on Highway 107, I saw water spurting from handsome stonework set in a mountain. Moody Spring, I knew we’d stop. I had no…
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Your Continental Divide
June 15, 2023
By Tom Poland Something trendy comes along that’s annoying and you resist. Some manager at work decides to implement a new work procedure. You don’t like it. “C’mon now,…
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Life’s Healing Elixir
June 8, 2023
By Tom Poland A Sunday sojourn found me at Healing Springs near Blackville, South Carolina. There I stood on Gods Acre, property deeded to God. Palm Sunday it was,…
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Drumming Up White Feathery Memories
June 2, 2023
By Tom Poland Long before I moved to South Carolina, family vacation trips took us over Charleston’s “New Cooper River Bridge.” To be accurate, we drove over the Silas…
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Highway 61 Revisited
May 25, 2023
By Tom Poland From 22,000 miles high, a satellite dropped an uncanny merging of highway and music into my path. XM Radio played the comedic ACME siren whistle that…
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Memories Of Zebco Reels & Red Wrigglers
May 17, 2023
By Tom Poland I drive west, Georgia bound, and pass it yet again, a place that pulls at my heart. My father had a worm farm, and my grandfather’s…
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Behind The Lens
May 10, 2023
By Tom Poland Thirty-seven years ago I wrote “Worth The Wait,” a feature on photographing wildlife. South Carolina Wildlife magazine photographers Ted Borg, Robert Clark, and Phillip Jones gave…
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We’re Sending You To …
May 3, 2023
By Tom Poland In the 1960s my father visited the Central State Hospital in Georgia. He may have gone to visit a relative. I recall a heated family gathering…
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The Joy Of Scholarships
April 26, 2023
By Tom Poland After high school I hoped to land a scholarship to play football. I played first unit on the junior varsity team and started three years on the…
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The Insurance Source hires Karis McGuire as Bilingual Customer Service Representative
April 21, 2023
Karis McGuire has joined The Insurance Source as a Bilingual Customer Service Representative. From Springdale, SC Karis is a 2023 Bob Jones University graduate who got her bachelor’s degree in…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move
The Green Of Winter
April 13, 2023
By Tom Poland Pine pollen yellows my deck, but the green of winter colors my thoughts. Two things I like about winter. One, winter’s cold bones lay the land…
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AFL announces expanded partnership to include exclusive naming rights to Greenville Drive’s premier venue, the Champions Club
April 11, 2023
AFL announced its expanded multi-year partnership with The Greenville Drive, a South Atlantic League Affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. This opportunity positions AFL as the presenting sponsor of The…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: hospitality, life, manufacturing, on-the-move, social-scene, technology, telecommunications
Thirty Years—The Mountains To The Sea
April 6, 2023
By Tom Poland I remember the year well. 1984. It was my first year working as a staff writer for South Carolina Wildlife. I had just spent six years…
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A Walk In Winter Woods
March 29, 2023
By Tom Poland I like boardwalks. Those that take you through protected natural areas. Several come to mind. The lovely boardwalk at Woods Bay takes you 1,150 feet through…
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New rankings show healthiest and least healthy counties in South Carolina
March 29, 2023
Beaufort County ranks the healthiest in South Carolina and Allendale is the least healthy county in the state, according to new County Health Rankings data from the University of Wisconsin…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: conversations, health-care, life, on-the-move
We Need Tree Scholars
March 23, 2023
By Tom Poland The January-February 2023 issue of South Carolina Wildlife magazine ran my story on Edgefield County’s Curryton Magnolia. The old tree’s close to being a state record magnolia…
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Around the World in 80 Hats at Upcountry History Museum
March 22, 2023Though not in a hot air balloon with Phileas Fogg, visitors will have an opportunity to go around the world on an 80 hat and headdress journey as the Upcountry…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: chamber, churches, education, entertainment, hospitality, hotels, life, marketing-and-communications, media, on-the-move, social-scene, the-arts
A Writer’s Moon Tide Memories
March 16, 2023
By Tom Poland It seems like yesterday though it was forty-five years. I took a job as a scriptwriter-cinematographer with the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department. I…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
