City Directories and History:
Recently, Mr. Robert Moore of Chester, S.C. died after living most of his adulthood in what many would consider substandard housing. But for those of us privileged to have known him, his home was his castle and you needed only to ride by it to see the care and pride he held. No other post on R&R’s FB pages has drawn so much attention; everyone enjoyed Robert’s friendly wave of his hand!
The important aspect of what R&R strives to bring to our audience is that every home has a story to tell, every structure has dignity, and everyone should cherish the memories of their homeplaces. All too often we see these being demolished with little thought, “oh, it’s just an old house.” But someone planned, built, paid for, and lived in these structures. Some of the most important are not grand mansions but simple shacks like Robert Moore’s home, which he didn’t even own.
Adding historic survey cards from numerous counties, mostly from the 1970s and ’80s, has reminded me of just how many simple houses once dotted the southern landscape. Yes, most rural tenant houses have long gone but thousands of domestic houses, low-income rentals and the like remain. It is somewhat surprising that the survey teams actually took so much time in photographing them. After all, they were mostly cheap architecture with little if any or imitation. They were fortunately documented because the survey teams realized these were homes cherished by their occupants. Their lives and stories are equally valid, and those of us working on R&R are often asked, “why do you include….?” The answer is simple: we hope someone will one day let us hear that the simple shack pictured on page xxx, was their precious grandmother’s home. It, too, has meaning and value to R&R.