Inside the Disappearing Deep South

[00:00:00]We had a good life up here where we was very poor. We didn't know it though. We thought we was rich.

[00:00:04]>> Everybody was poor.

[00:00:05]>> But then you could sleep with your doors open, windows open.

[00:00:08]>> Mhm.

[00:00:09]>> Not ever had to lock go off anywhere.

[00:00:11]But you don't do that now.

[00:00:17]>> This is going away. The area around Greenville, South Carolina has traditionally been the quintessential rural south. Everyone is polite.

[00:00:26]Everyone goes to church. And everyone knows each other.

[00:00:30]>> The hospitality here, it speaks for itself. It don't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. It used to be more more quiet. There wasn't a lot of people here.

[00:00:38]>> People get along down here.

[00:00:40]>> But Greenville is now one of America's fastest growing cities, and the countryside around it is becoming the suburbs.

[00:00:46]>> I've never seen as many people from as many countries walking up down Main Street ever. We can get everything that we're interested in and need and want and it feels kind of big city-ish without any of the big city actual downsides.

[00:01:01]>> I had a lot of friends that moved down here from Jersey a long time ago.

[00:01:03]They've actually picked up the southern accent and there's no more hot dogs and cold beers. Yeah.

[00:01:10]>> What does that mean for this pocket of the rural deep south? We went to find out.

[00:01:24]20 years ago, Traveler's Rest was a farm town of 4,000 people. Between 2010 and 2020 alone, though, its population grew 70%. Today, it's unrecognizable as South Carolina, America's fastest growing state, booms. Everything we're seeing here is all brand new. Until just a couple decades ago, this was just a rural crossroads with a few houses and shops around it. And now today it's a town of thousands of people with all these businesses and developments, but all of it is brand new. A lot of people who live here are not from here. Oh, yeah. Like all these people. I mean, this like all looks brand new.

[00:01:59]>> Yeah, they are. But they're all rentals.

[00:02:01]So, right now is it's real hard to buy buy a home. Investors are coming and just buying huge lots and putting apartments uh town homes and they're all rentals. So, that's that's a big problem for me cuz I'm 37, almost 38 trying to find a home and you can't right now. I mean, it's almost impossible. So, what was it like when you were growing up here?

[00:02:17]>> Uh, a lot smaller. You you knew your neighbor. Uh, you go to the gas station or to the grocery store, you going to be there an extra 30 minutes talking to somebody that you know. Now, it's a lot more traffic. Something I don't think that they thought about before our population boomed like it's booming right now.

[00:02:31]>> For people who actually grew up here or people who are natives, how do you think they generally feel about the transformation that's happened here?

[00:02:37]They don't like it because it used to be a lot of farmland here and now, like I said, these investors are coming up and buying hundreds of acres at a time. You can't really compete with the price that they're giving you. Like this gentleman across the street, he's uh he's retired, so it's actually cheaper for him to rent than to buy. The hospitality here, it speaks for itself. It don't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. I mean, we're here. I'm going to support whatever you want to support. You know, we might have differences, but I mean, >> do you worry that that will go away or do you think the people who come here kind of adopt the culture of I think it definitely will. Uh, it kind of grows on you, I guess you would say. Had a lot of friends that moved down here from Jersey a long time ago and, uh, they've actually picked up the southern accent and there's no more hot dogs and cold beers. It's something that you kind of got to embrace cuz it is everybody's growing. Our population is not going to stop growing.

[00:03:27]>> What do you think? Good thing or bad thing on the growth?

[00:03:30]>> Um, I think it's a good thing and a bad thing. Uh, I think one, it definitely puts a lot of job opportunities for people. It's been nice living here, but I think I'm sure it's gotten more overpop populated. Oh, I've seen California, West Virginia, Idaho, uh, Ohio, Tennessee. I've seen a lot of different places. When you were a kid, would you say like was this the country out here?

[00:03:50]It used to be more more quiet. There wasn't a lot of people here. Like the city part, there used to be like nothing through there. There was no like coffee shops. All the buildings were like empty. There was nothing. TR is very well known for travelers that used to come through here were known for, you know, travelers rest. The travelers would come down through the mountains and they would stay and wherever for a few days and they would go on. This whole area of South Carolina is just exploding.

[00:04:19]>> Oh, absolutely. Yeah. No, I 100% agree.

[00:04:22]Like I said, I don't I don't feel like it's a bad thing. Like I said, it raises more jobs. It raises more money for people. That's cool. But um I think it definitely can come to a point where there could be so much going on that it could become over the top, you know, overwhelming for a lot of people. A lot of the construction you see, you know, dude, it goes up so fast. Like it's up in, you know, it's up real quick, you know, quantity over quality. We'll get into the reasons why shortly, but the upstate region of South Carolina is drawing vast numbers of workers and transplants, turning one stoplight towns into cities.

[00:05:00]>> Where'd you come here from?

[00:05:01]>> South Florida, Miami.

[00:05:02]>> What led you to come here?

[00:05:04]>> Better life. It got crazy over there.

[00:05:06]Way better life here. I mean, look at me. I'm happy now. Miami will be tense.

[00:05:10]I'll be watching out. But here, I feel like it's happy. You know what's cool about this area is that within, let's say, a 45 minutes, you have like little vibes. Each little town here has its own personality, has its own vibe. So, Travelers R kind of picked up a vibe where I don't know. I feel like it is like it's not trying to be a farm town, but it's not trying to be a big city.

[00:05:34]It's like properly named Travels Rest, right? It's like a leisure town. It's a cool little town. My brother told me this today. He's visiting actually. He said, "If you want education, fancy stuff, you go to the city. If you want nice people and easy living, you go to the country."

[00:05:51]>> Teachers own.

[00:05:52]>> It was near here that we met Bruce.

[00:05:54]>> I love goats. You use them for use it for me.

[00:05:58]>> My buddy passed away >> and uh I went to the funeral. It was the wrong funeral. I went in sign. I didn't know, but I know.

[00:06:07]>> He thought it was Renfruit Renfruit Baptist Church. But he's been having trouble with his eyes lately, too.

[00:06:12]>> No, I'm 83. And >> you're 83.

[00:06:14]>> He's 83. I'm 77.

[00:06:17]>> What's your guy's secret?

[00:06:18]>> A lot of good loving.

[00:06:22]>> They invited us to Bruce's farm to see what this area had traditionally been like.

[00:06:30]>> Can we go see the goats?

[00:06:31]>> Listen, I'll give you your turn.

[00:06:34]>> Yes, me.

[00:06:35]>> Are you >> You built this house yourself?

[00:06:37]>> I had subs to do it. I built it. Yeah.

[00:06:39]It was nice, but it didn't look like it does now. Had oak trees all around it.

[00:06:43]All died out. But we uh we've enjoyed it. So, I live along.

[00:06:48]>> He's a widowerower and I'm a a widow.

[00:06:52]So, we've known each other since we were kids cuz we both lived in Marietta up above here. We went to the same little high school. Have you ever heard of Slater Marietta High School? There was like 47 people in my graduating class.

[00:07:05]And how many were in yours?

[00:07:07]>> 26.

[00:07:09]Y'all, come on back here. This is beautiful.

[00:07:13]>> This beautiful place.

[00:07:20]>> Yeah.

[00:07:21]>> Is that Doy or Dolly?

[00:07:23]>> This Doy.

[00:07:24]>> We had a lot of uh people who made liquor here back in the dark corners and uh >> yeah, it was quite a place.

[00:07:35]>> Get back to Traver's Rest. Uh that swamp rabbit trail that used to be a swamp rabbit railroad. They used to carry passengers up there from Greenville.

[00:07:45]They had two ends at River Falls.

[00:07:47]>> But I mean you you think of Travelers Rest and Greenville as two totally different places.

[00:07:52]>> They are.

[00:07:52]>> All the other different We had a good life up here. We was very poor. We didn't know it though. We thought we was rich.

[00:07:58]>> Everybody was poor.

[00:07:59]>> But then you could sleep with your doors open, windows open.

[00:08:02]>> Mhm.

[00:08:03]>> Not ever had to lock go off anywhere.

[00:08:05]But you don't do that now. I mean, this is such a beautiful land. It's so quiet, peaceful, and >> it is.

[00:08:11]>> Here it is.

[00:08:11]>> Do Do you worry that with these subdivisions, these developments just being dropped? I mean, that one that you just passed, it's like >> I don't like it, but >> more the marrier. I got somebody to talk to. I get out morning when there's building when there new neighbors, they all New York, most of them Yankees, Southern Yankees now. And I'd go around, I talk to all of them. Then they named me the mayor of up uh up country lane. I said, "No, we don't do that because I don't know all of it."

[00:08:39]>> So many of the people we talked to today, they moved from New York, California, Florida.

[00:08:43]>> They have >> even being here in like the heart of South Carolina, you know, the South. You don't really feel like you're in the South.

[00:08:50]>> 276 here was my two lanes.

[00:08:52]>> Used to be a two-lane road.

[00:08:54]>> Like when I was a kid, we had a refrigerator. Had to put ice in it. We didn't have no power.

[00:09:00]I was about 7 years old when they put power up through Marietta and >> we had to go to the spring to get water for drinking roof. Yeah, >> my dad dug a well. But >> yeah, >> I was halfway grown before we ever had a tea leaf.

[00:09:13]>> Oh yeah, I remember when we first got one. I was >> But it was a It's been a lot of changes.

[00:09:19]>> 30 years ago I could go in here and I know in a restaurant and I know everybody there, you know, and everybody talked each other. Now you go in, you don't know a soul.

[00:09:29]You're more fine with all the people coming in cuz you get along with everybody. You can talk to everybody.

[00:09:33]>> I think we got enough right now.

[00:09:35]>> What about the culture? Like do you do you worry that this will cease to be kind of like a traditional southern Christian place?

[00:09:43]>> I do.

[00:09:43]>> And that it's going to become something different.

[00:09:45]>> Yeah. Especially the Christian part.

[00:09:47]>> It's really a good place to be live. We have good schools. It is. I guess it's still good.

[00:09:53]>> I mean, now there's so much more money, right? It's a lot wealthier. It's not as poor. There's way more technology.

[00:09:58]What's better now or before?

[00:10:01]>> According to who you talk to. I It's better for me back then, but now it's better for her now probably because she does all that computer stuff, but I don't even know how to turn it on.

[00:10:10]>> I like >> I don't I don't be inside. I don't watch TV.

[00:10:14]>> I stay outside doing something.

[00:10:16]>> I'll show you this Thunderbird.

[00:10:18]>> Oh, wow.

[00:10:23]>> There's liquor in it, right?

[00:10:25]>> He knows what it is. I got Dale Nhard collection. I got one collection's got 30 cars and I got a lot of Dale different people he's driven for.

[00:10:35]>> To understand why this is changing, we need to now go 10 miles south to Greenville. Here we met Isaac, a Roa Reader in Greenville native.

[00:10:43]>> This whole area, this is a new music venue. It was really cool. It's all This is all super expensive.

[00:10:48]>> So, you're saying every everything in this area is new?

[00:10:52]>> Yeah, completely.

[00:10:52]>> So, what did downtown used to be like?

[00:10:54]You're saying, you know, the reputation was very different a couple decades ago >> in my parents day. My parents came in May in early 1980s and then this bridge that we'll see up here was like driving over that bridge was just the place you didn't go. You went over there and that was where people went to either do drugs or to sell drugs. and uh Main Street was all dying businesses like late8s 90s our mayor who's been mayor for 31 years.

[00:11:22]Knox White got elected in the '90s and did this whole project down here with the waterfall and the bridge and all that stuff. And since then he's just been doing that more and more and more.

[00:11:31]And now >> this used to be like kind of like the no-go side of town. And now look at I mean that's that is a dramatic shift.

[00:11:37]>> I know. Right over there across is like a arts walk area. So it's a whole bunch of studios of individual artists. This hotel, the Grand Bohemian, is new also as of maybe the last 3, four, five years.

[00:11:49]>> You come down the beautiful street there line with shops and restaurants.

[00:11:52]>> You get to this nice park, have all these people out. It feels like the kind of downtown like every small city wants to have.

[00:11:56]>> We can get everything that we're interested in and need and want. And it feels kind of big cityish without any of the big city actual downsides.

[00:12:04]>> Well, two things. Do you worry that as the city grows and more and more people move here, the character of the city will change that it's no longer going to be this kind of small southern city?

[00:12:11]>> And do you worry it's going to become a big city? the more apartment buildings that I see and everything, I know there'll be more traffic. I know there'll be more, you know, everything that goes along with all of that. But also, in the past five years, Greenville's only gotten cooler and more interesting, right? It feels a little bit like when you have a you find an indie artist that you really like and you're like, I want them to get big because they're so good and I like love their music. But then if they get big, then you feel a little bit like, oh, they're not a cool small indie artist anymore.

[00:12:37]>> Great metaphor. So that was the highway that used to be what this bridge is now.

[00:12:43]>> So there's a highway through here.

[00:12:44]>> Yeah.

[00:12:44]>> Yeah.

[00:12:46]>> I think I'm blessed to have grown up here in the time that I did cuz I think, you know, 20 years earlier, not a very fun town to be in. And now it feels like everything you need is here. Downtown here, the thing you notice is there are so many businesses. And we haven't seen one boarded up store, one empty storefront. Everywhere you look, just small local businesses. It's like the opposite of what we just saw in Charleston, West Virginia when we were there, which is a nice town, but there is so much empty stuff. Here, it's like no space is being wasted everywhere, businesses, people coming through, and just prosperity.

[00:13:22]Once known as the textile capital of the world, Greenville's plants closed and went overseas in the 60s and 70s, sending the city into a tail spin.

[00:13:31]Between 1960 and 2000, Greenville lost 20% of its population. Low taxes, weak unions, and pro business laws have since made it a major manufacturing hub. And between 2010 and 2020 alone, its population grew 20%. The upstate area now contains a North American headquarters of Michelin, BMW's largest plant in the world, employing 11,000 people, universities, hospitals, and plants owned by companies like Seammens, General Electric, Dodge, and Bosch.

[00:14:02]Today, even the poorest neighborhoods are doing well. So, when we first got to Greenville, we met a guy and he told us, "You need to go to West Greenville." And he said that when he left for college, it was the hood, the poorest part of the city. And when he came back, it was almost all white, super prosperous, and he couldn't believe, literally couldn't believe his eyes. And now that we're here, we're experiencing that, too. You have a few signs of what used to be here, kind of the hood and the poverty and everything, but for the most part, I mean, there's just so much development, money, new businesses. You wouldn't know the history of this place if someone didn't tell you.

[00:14:33]>> Yeah.

[00:14:34]>> Yeah. What brought yourself to Greenville?

[00:14:35]>> Okay, so originally our reason was to come for family. Um when we visit for the holidays, we loved it. But the main reason would be our daughter. She's a toddler and we love the parks. We love the green spaces, the swamp rabbit trail.

[00:14:48]>> How does that compare to you said you're from Pensacola?

[00:14:50]>> Oh, it's night and day. Pensacola, uh it's a beach town, so it can be very touristy and there's like a lack of community of locals. in here. People have been here their whole lives or they just got here, but they're, you know, getting involved with things. And we just loved the the small town feel of being able to walk to the main strip and we know all of our neighbors now.

[00:15:11]>> Driving through here in West Greenville, all the houses are new. Even if they're old houses, they're renovated. Very few buildings look like they've been left in the same condition for more than like 10 years. Greenville is a city that if you're looking to just kind of settle down, if you're looking for a quieter life, just, you know, you're tired of the hustle and bustle, but you also still want the excitement and charm of, you know, a smaller city that still has a lot going on, Greenville is the place that you would definitely come.

[00:15:36]>> Has it changed in the 5 years you've been here?

[00:15:38]>> Oh, yeah. Yeah, most definitely. The restaurant scene is expanding exponentially, like crazy, from downtown to West Village. If you were a Greenville native, you would have never thought 10 years back that there would be a restaurant here that has a Michelin star. Now, a lot from what I know and from what I've seen so far has changed pretty quickly, but it's been linear.

[00:15:58]It's been smooth. the west end area has changed and it's flowing down like Cville fountain in like I think everybody's jumping on to make it a better city and more people are moving down here and it's like oh okay for us that live here it's like I guess cuz we see it like we we've been here so we've seen it like we know what it's like and everybody else that comes down here's like oh my gosh it's so beautiful it's so beautiful we're just Hey, it's home.

[00:16:36]>> Y'all caught me. I better get my goddamn weed, man.

[00:16:39]>> Yeah.

[00:16:40]>> All right. Good time, man. Good time.

[00:16:41]It's >> like downtown stuff and grow. It's a lot of building going on, man. Pretty city.

[00:16:47]More like a little Lis to me. Lot of time here. A lot like house next door.

[00:16:50]They from Florida. They came down here say love the city. It's like us. It's expensive. But to them, you know, to everybody else, it ain't. It's a com.

[00:16:58]They say the climate good and everything.

[00:16:59]>> After I came out of Vietnam, I come here. I came back here and I've been here all my life. This is my time. You know, Greenville, South Carolina. Well, it's what you make it. You know, that's anywhere. I read my scriptures. I sit here in the chair and mind my damn business. And that's all I can do.

[00:17:21]Don't bother me. I won't bother you. I would talk to anybody. I would give you straight off my back. But I don't get involved in anything. I've been to Vietnam. I stayed over there for 13 months in the damn jungle. And uh when I came back home, I got married. That's a damn another damn war. When I got married, you know, >> like this neighborhood. I mean, everywhere you look, there's new buildings.

[00:17:47]>> I seen this place. There were no new houses out here. You see? So I came up from ground up in here in Greenville, South Carolina is where I I made my home.

[00:18:01]>> Greenville has pulled off what many American cities desperately hope to turning shrinkage into growth, attracting jobs, and becoming a city where people genuinely want to live. Yet as anywhere that doesn't reach everyone, as we saw when meeting this Greenville native, >> these houses on this street alone were Not very good. This was not a very good neighborhood. Only one house on the street now that's worth less than 400,000.

[00:18:32]Actually, most of the houses on the from this stop sign to the bottom of our hill.

[00:18:40]Average around a million. That's over 2,000 square feet. The lot alone is worth that much. Women's Club is the one that started the falls. You couldn't even walk down where the falls are in the summertime. It smells so bad.

[00:19:03]And it was one of the three most polluted rivers in the US.

[00:19:08]>> And now the kids are playing in it.

[00:19:10]>> Oh yeah. I like part of what they did downtown, but they it makes downtown cost prohibitive for the people that live in Greenville and have been raised here.

[00:19:24]I've never seen as many people from as many countries and states walking up down Main Street ever on just this street. I'm a doctor of U. He's a doctor. She's a hospice nurse. She's a retired nurse. Three doors down is two doctors. Well, there two lawyers. She's a judge now.

[00:19:50]97th% of us is less educated than people on the street.

[00:19:56]>> Do you prefer Greenville today to what it used to be?

[00:20:01]>> For some things, yes. For some things, no. Downtown's been destroyed. Old buildings that should have been saved weren't saved. Well, everything changes, but sometimes the changes aren't that good.

[00:20:20]The fact is that Greenville is becoming prosperous. It's a boom town providing opportunities from the working class through the elite. Yet, growth doesn't come free. While I'm happy that Greenville is doing so well, I can't help but feel some sadness that a piece of the Deep South may be being lost.