Happy Birthday Olanta! It is 100 years old. Only heaven has more Floyds, past and present, than Olanta. The number of Floyds not in heaven is classified information, but the old devil required two references for Floyds to be eligible to enter Hades. The devil had no choice after a Floyd built a Wal-Mart and tried to air-condition purgatory.
Olanta’s mayor and the town council have been walking down U.S. 301 picking up cans to buy candles for Olanta’s birthday cake. For $2, you can enjoy hors d’oeuvres and memories at Olanta’s birthday party. Legend has it that Adam was a Floyd, Eve was a McKenzie and Olanta was the Garden of Eden. The snake moved to Turbeville, taking the apple with him, and opened up a liquor store. When the Cokers found out about it, they ate the apple, sold the snake for a tobacco stick and burned the red dot store of iniquity down.
Dorn Smith and Kelton Floyd built the bank and the funeral home side by side to make it convenient if the dearly departed decided to take it with them.
There are many ways to reach Olanta from Sandy Bay; S.C. 341 and U.S. 378; Green Road past Pine Bay Dairy; or you can ride by Charlie Dorn Smith’s old house and Thomas Cemetery. No matter how you get there, the memories outnumber the telephone poles.
I remember broadcasting from Morrell Thompson’s old grocery store, where Blake Electric Co. is today. How long ago was that? It was a Saturday during tobacco season. USC was playing N.C. State. Roman Gabriel was the Wolfpack quarterback. I advertised tobacco curers for David Thompson, Pontiac for McElveen Motors, Esso gasoline for Gary Knight, furniture for Jimmy Durant, pork chops for Delano Bennett, Floyd’s Drug Store, Floyd Funeral Home, Floyd’s Oil Co., IGA, the Citizens’ Bank, F&L Drugs, Moore and Associates, Olanta Hardware, Olanta Tire & Auto Parts, the Cotton Gin and Alec Kennedy. I remember when Main Street in Olanta was as crowded on Saturday as a fat lady’s bikini.
It’s not all doom and gloom. Soon, Olanta will be blessed with a beautiful new library. Peggy and I look forward to the Taste of Olanta, where the cooks often are imitated but seldom duplicated. Happy birthday, Olanta! Your sidewalks might be empty, but if memories were diamonds, Olanta would be King Solomon’s mines.
— Charlie Walker is a local newspaper columnist. He can be reached at P.O. Box 441, Kingstree, SC 29556.
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