Photo of The Month – Feb 2011

A Ride in the Country

Picture contributor: Hazel Haynes Bridges Collection

One day young Charles and Grover Haynes, sons of R. R., hitched up a handsome team for a ride on a wooded lane. Did someone just happen by and snap this very professional-looking photograph, or had the town photographer been hired for the occasion? Their age suggests this picture was made around 1908.

—From the book Cliffside: Portrait of a Carolina Mill Town.

Then again, being who they were, it’s unlikely they did any hitching. They probably sent word over to Mr. Zeno Hawkin’s livery stable to bring up their usual team and rig. It’s a sure bet the photographer was Will Hames, he being the only man in town, at the time, capable of such fine work.