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Michelle Danforth (left), 15, and Teresa Stokes, 14, practice their dance moves while the boys play basketball on Carpentersville Road. Although they were playing in the road, the group was rarely interrupted by a passing car.
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Pat Stephens McCloud will never forget playing in the streets with other children - without a care - knowing all was safe.
She was recalling her childhood in the 1950s in Carpentersville.
Longtime North Augusta residents know Carpentersville as a tight-knit black community off U.S. Highway 1, neatly tucked behind the shell of what was once a Kmart building.
For Mrs. McCloud and others who still live in Carpentersville, it's not surprising that their little neighborhood has endured.
"It was a nice place to grow up," said Mrs. McCloud, who left the New York City borough of Harlem and moved back to her great-grandmother's house with her husband, Freddie, in 1988, after Mrs. McCloud's mother died.
A nurse supervisor for University Hospital Home Health, North Augusta division, Mrs. McCloud appreciates her upbringing.
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Charlie Nichols, 81, holds a photo from his playing days on the Carpentersville Tars, a black baseball team. Today, trees behind him hide where the diamond was.
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"We received a solid foundation from the church," she said, referring to Carpentersville Baptist Church. In March 2001, the 77-year-old building was razed for a new structure, which church members voted to keep in the same location.
Carpentersville's origins are tied to Hamburg - a low-lying North Augusta section along the Savannah River destroyed in 1929 by one of the area's many floods. It was across the Fifth Street bridge from downtown Augusta.
"You can't speak of Carpentersville without talking about Hamburg," said the Rev. Nathaniel Irvin, 73, a lifelong resident of North Augusta.
To escape future floods, Carpentersville's founder, William "Will" Carpenter, purchased a parcel of land overlooking Augusta and developed houses to accommodate Hamburg's flood victims.
Mr. Carpenter, who owned a thriving grocery store at Broad and Fifth streets that was destroyed in the flood, is considered one of the Augusta area's most successful black businessmen ever, said James Carter, a historian of black Augusta culture.
"My father was a dentist and had a lot of patients over there," Mr. Carter said. "Old Man Carpenter owned lots of property and was very successful."
Mr. Carpenter had an estate in Beech Island and owned houses in Augusta.
His son, Coleman A. Carpenter, 73, of Augusta, said his father loaned money to the city of Augusta and Tabernacle Baptist Church during the Great Depression.
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Jerry Cannon, 95, is the oldest resident of Carpentersville. He remembers his wedding day in 1929 at Carpentersville Baptist Church, which was recently rebuilt.
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"The historians never mention my father's name. He helped lots of people, black and white," said Mr. Carpenter, who owns an upholstery shop on D'Antignac Street in Augusta.
Mr. Carter confirms that William Carpenter was a fiscal force.
"He was rich," Mr. Carter said.
An article published in The Augusta Chronicle on Sept. 30, 1919, referred to Mr. Carpenter as "the most progressive colored businessman in the city and a fine example of a self-made man."
He was 81 when he died in June 1959, his son said.
Although many of the houses lining Carpentersville Road scream for fresh paint and weeding, the few remaining residents are proud of their community.
"People still say, 'I live in Carpentersville' with a certain pride," said Elsie Wingfield, who retired as an Aiken County schoolteacher after 35 years.
It's a pride founded solidly on its past. Charlie Nichols, 81, was a star center fielder for the Carpentersville Tars.
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Kenneth Burton sings solo during a Saturday afternoon rehearsal of the Baptist Church's men's chorus. Mr. Burton grew up across from the church but now calls Augusta home.
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"We had a good team," he said, reflecting on barnstorming trips to rural South Carolina and Georgia fields of dreams.
Well-known entertainers, including Etta James, Wilson Pickett and James Brown, would visit Rhunette White's grocery store in Carpentersville after they finished their weekend gigs in Augusta, Mrs. McCloud recalled.
Jerry Cannon, 95, one of North Augusta's oldest residents, left Hamburg to escape the flood and to marry his bride at the church.
"Mr. Carpenter was a good man," said Mr. Cannon, who still works as a messenger for Blanchard & Calhoun real estate.
Carpentersville's future is not as bright as its past, Mrs. McCloud concedes.
The area, which boasted about 100 residents at its height, now has about 20. Young people aren't interested in sticking around the section that some people refer to as Schultz Hill. Henry Schultz, the founder of Hamburg, also owned property in Carpentersville.
"I think someday this will probably become commercial property," Mrs. McCloud said.
Though not within North Augusta city limits, Carpentersville residents receive city water and sewer services. Charles Martin, North Augusta's city administrator, said residents should consider annexation.
"It would be cheaper," he said, because nonresidents pay higher fees for those services. They do receive city fire protection, but the Aiken County Sheriff's Office responds to police calls, Mr. Martin said.
"I always thought Carpentersville should have been part of the city," he said.
Regardless of what happens to the area, Mrs. McCloud said, she will never forget what she and so many others who grew up there consider the good old days.
"Yes, that was just a beautiful time," she said with a smile.
Reach Timothy Cox at (706) 823-3217 or tim.cox@augustachronicle.com.
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