The “Central Focus” collection of photographs showcases the picturesque town of Central, South Carolina. They are studies of light and shadow, solids and voids, rhythms and rhymes, the echoes of history and the rumble of today.

Central, South Carolina was officially established in 1875, two years after the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway designated a division point there. Originally named “Center,” the town was set at the halfway point between the namesake cities. The town grew up around and supported the railroad with business offices, a hotel and dining hall, and maintenance facilities. The growth was short-lived, however, as the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line was absorbed into the Southern Railway in 1894. The Southern closed the maintenance shops and moved the division point to Greenville, South Carolina. Today, the Norfolk Southern Railway continues to rattle the windows of this small town as its predecessors’ trains have for over a century.

The original exhibition consisted of thirty-two framed photographs and was on display at the Main Street Deli and Coffeehouse, downtown Central, from April 24, 2014 through September 25, 2014. In December 2014 the entire exhibition was donated to the Pickens County Library for display at the Clemson-Central Branch.

This book contains images from the exhibition, expanded to include others for which limited wall space did not allow at the time.