Poland captures the essence of Rural Life in South Carolina Country Roads. T&D News

Who knew there could be such beauty in train depots, filling stations and other vanishing charms? Tom Poland did. The well-known author, journalist and speaker has proven it in his latest book, South Carolina Country Roads: Of Train Depots, Filling Stations & Other Vanishing Charms.Tom spent the last several years doing the photography and writing for this latest book by driving the backroads of South Carolina. Because he doesn’t like being on the interstate, his ventures off the main thoroughfares open up all kinds of possibilities to see what so many, otherwise, would miss. There are hidden treasures in a ghost town, a rusting steel truss bridge that takes the reader back to the 1930s, and an old gas pump covered in honeysuckle. It’s not often if ever anymore, you see cured hams hanging from wires at a country store. Talk of the Town WISTV

With characteristic modesty, South Carolina author Tom Poland might deny it, but he shares a kindred spirit and eloquence with late New England poet Robert Frost. Both he and Frost have been drawn inexorably to the road “less traveled and that has made the difference” to both of them.He easily persuades like-minded travelers to join him on the way. “The real South Carolina and the South in general is still out there. While it’s true that interstates relegated once-busy highways to back-road status, think of that as an act of preservation. The Columbia Star