A Girl From A Small Town
I have commented before on my being a native Floridian. People are always surprised to meet someone who was born here and continues to live here. I am also a small town girl. Now, I say small relatively speaking.
Swans on Lake Morton, Lakeland, Florida
January 2001
January 2001
I have been to smaller, less developed towns than where I currently live. But I have also been to big cities - Tampa, Atlanta. Frankly any building over 3 stories concerns me, not that we don't have a few taller than that here.
Ephraim M. Baynard House, 1894, Auburndale, Florida
August 2008
August 2008
The nearest town to me, Lakeland, Florida, was built in the late 1800's. Its downtown area has been preserved to have its original "turn of the century" feel. The Ephraim M. Baynard House, pictured above, is in the next town over. It was one of the first houses built there.
Old things fascinate me: old buildings, old furniture, old photographs. They tell the story of people's lives in days gone by. The family photograph below is always amusing to me when I look at it. One thing they teach you in Florida public schools is how old time Florida "crackers" lived. As you can see, my roots run deep!
Old things fascinate me: old buildings, old furniture, old photographs. They tell the story of people's lives in days gone by. The family photograph below is always amusing to me when I look at it. One thing they teach you in Florida public schools is how old time Florida "crackers" lived. As you can see, my roots run deep!
The Combee Gang
Photography today is a product of all those who went before, all the Ansel Adams, Louis Daguerre's, and Matthew Brady's of the past. But it is also the events and people of the past: wars, presidents, and great disasters. Future generations will only learn from what older generations will teach them.
Your history, my history, no matter how insignificant it seems, is but a part of the fabric we all generate together. So go and take a photograph today!
Your history, my history, no matter how insignificant it seems, is but a part of the fabric we all generate together. So go and take a photograph today!
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Suzanne Williams is a native Floridian, wife, and mother, with a penchant for spelling anything, who happens to love photography.
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6 comments:
Beautiful photos. It makes me want to travel there.
Thanks! You should. It is true, rural Florida, very different from what you see along the coastline and in the bigger cities.
I was born in Elgin Florida. I love photography and have been a professional photographer for 12 years. I especially am fascinated with old photos even if i don't know them i guess it's being intrigued with another time and place. I would also like to be entered in your Bloggy contest! for the books or gift certificate I love to read, and you'll see by my emaill addy i love to photograph
photoquest(at)bellsouth(dot)net
Pretty pictures, when I was a little girl I lived in Lakeland.
jen62728@aol.com
Those photos are gorgeous. I want to live in the Ephraim M. Baynard House - it's so quaint with its little white picket fence. *sigh* I absolutely LOVE small towns.
I tagged you on my blog, come check it out and I hope you'll do it. I'm curious to learn more :)
Thanks for all the great comments. I agree with the comment about old photos. The photo of "The Combee Gang" came from my grandmother's collection. She is the family historian and can tell you just how all those people are related.
I'm always glad to hear from somebody who lived in Lakeland. I was born here and have never left.
The Baynard house is a historical museum now and can be rented for functions. The portion of the building to the immediate forefront is the kitchen, which according to the day, is separated from the rest of the house. The man who build the Baynard house, also built another nearby, which is now a large funeral home, but quite something to see.
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