A walk in Easley

Easley is a small town. The downtown area is a street with a row of brick buildings. Train tracks run parallel to the buildings on Main St. Easley only exists because of that train. In 1870, rail officials wanted to connect Charlotte, NC with Atlanta. Easley was chartered as a 1 sq mile village for the train to stop in 1874.

Now Easley is a booming city with 20,000 people in city limits (11 sq miles).

I was in the mood to take some pictures, so I grabbed my camera and headed to town. What I discovered is that there wasn't much in Easley to photograph. I parked at the post office and started walking around. Heading down a block from Main St., I found this church.I really wanted to get up close and photograph their door. I have a series of door handles. This would go great with it. Unfortunately, the church was packed and I didn't want to be seen crouched up against their door. I'll go back for the door handle a different day.


I stopped to take a picture of this brick wall. I liked how the sun was hitting it. There are a lot of buildings around where you can see evidence of old windows and doors, since filled in with brick. Its fun to imagine what that building may have been like. Was that an office window with someone looking out at the mountains?


As a woman passed me on a bike I heard a noise. It didn't really come to me at first what it was. I kind of ignored it. I heard it again. A train whistle!!! That could give me something to photograph. I ran two blocks up toward main street. It was evening, and the sun was low. As I approached Main St., I saw the engine. I got a quick picture of it, but it wasn't great.

Then I stood and practiced different techniques in shooting the quick moving train. I didn't get anything fantastic, but it was fun.



After the train left, I felt excited. I imagined in 1874 that the people in the village of Easley would have run out to see the train like I did. They probably didn't have the expensive digital camera I have.