Vintage details along Centre Street – Amelia Island
Camera: Samsung Galaxy S4
Chris
Tag Florida
Spire & Sky
Camera: Samsung Galaxy S4
No post production
Chris
forgotton hammer
Forgotten tool from an abandoned project – as seen through a window that I had installed a long time ago on tile carefully set by me. This was once our house – it was completely reconstructed over the 8 years we lived there. Then sold. Subsequent owners and renters left the house in ruins. A visit back saw the house gutted and lost.
Brass numbers hang neglected – a haven for spiders. I shaped that cedar plaque and affixed those numbers.
A sad sight for us. It was once nearly perfect. Time takes its toll.
Our garden shed was once bright and filled with plants and potting supplies. The grass was perfect and lovely boardwalks connected the shed to the main deck and garage. Weeds and wasps now.
But a new owner took on the challenge – just as we did in 1981. We thought it was nothing more than a tear down – but it’s new life for 818. Joy to see!
Thanks for your visit…
Chris
Happy Earth Day 2017!
Every day is Earth Day at our house… have you shown the Earth some love lately?
It’s time to go hug my family and a few trees too!
Happy Earth Day! Chris & Carol
Post Office Box View
Kinda a neat view of the post office as seen through a post office mail box.
The view if you’re a letter.
Camera: Samsung Galaxy S4
Mammatus Clouds
Some mammatus clouds associated with a cumulonimbus cloud (thunderstorm). As seen in south central Florida during a moderate thunderstorm. No reports of tornadic activity and lightning strikes were only occasional. Since this was observed in late March, the freezing level was probably around 12,000 feet or so. Lightning normally occurs whenever the top of a cumulonimbus cloud reaches at least 10,000 feet above the freezing level. So the top of this cell was around 22,000 to 25,000 feet – not likely a severe weather event producer as it was nearly stationary and not associated with a front. Contrast that with the atmosphere during the summer – a thunderstorm cell in this area would reach 50,000 feet or more and be more likely to produce severe weather.
Camera: Samsung Galaxy S4
Chris
Souvenirs
Abandoned for decades and hidden from view in a remote location, this window remains as it was when the shop was still in use (a bit faded and dirty but intact). I’m fascinated with this lovely painted sign. Usually glass is the first victim of vandals followed by graffiti – this wonderful old building hasn’t suffered from either.
Thanks so much for you visit. The top image was with my Fujifilm FinePix S9900W and the bottom shot was with my Samsung Galaxy S4.
Chris
Cool Signs
As seen on an abandoned souvenir shop along a Florida highway. At first glance I thought that they sold film and what not as they were the first stop in extreme Northeast Florida for southbound tourists. Cold drinks, smokes, candy, stuffed gators and Florida junk like that. But I got to thinking that it might have meant films as in movie films. This building was left to rot many decades ago and right next door is a closed motel on the same property. Some locals say that the souvenier shop showed movies from time to time for the guests at the motel and some of the bored to death locals. Makes sense as it was in the middle of nowhere and back in the 1960s or earlier that would be a draw.
Anyway, cool old faded signage regardless of what went on. ^.^
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W, Samsung Galaxy S4
Chris
The Forgotten Door
Useful no longer but still standing. Thousands of hands have felt its cool metal – dozens of repairs and maybe not enough layers of paint have left the door exposed to Florida’s harsh environment. But it provides interesting points of view for the photographer and beckons further exploration. Weathered wood, peeling paint, broken glass and faded curtains add to the door’s appeal.
A once red door in a yellow building.
Peeling paint exposes old repairs and hastens the doors demize.
Hanging on by a thread. The strong Florida sun takes its toll.
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W and Samsung Galaxy S4
Thanks for stopping by!
Chris
US 17 Florida – Riverside Motel
The last strip of highway heading north towards Georgia. Up ahead the St. Marys River and bridge – heat radiates off the already hot pavement as a reminder that it’s only Spring – wait ’til Summer.
United States Highway 17 was the life giving link to the Eastern Seaboard and beyond. If you came to Florida in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s you crossed that bridge (well one like it but it was a drawbridge then but it’s not anymore even though the sign says it is, whew!) and your first glimpse of the Sunshine State was this patch of pavement. I-95 didn’t exist and it was 17 or nothing in those days. Now it’s only travelled by locals, log trucks or tourists looking for the original Florida. Along this stretch, cheap but nice motels with air conditioning and swimming pools beckoned those travellers that wanted their first taste of Florida and a cool bed. If you were real lucky, you’d spot a gator or two in the wet areas just off the the road.
Distance wise, this is Florida’s first motel – just a half mile from the Georgia line. It closed decades ago, driven out by high speed travel on smooth highways. The doors were closed and locked once – now termites and rot have opened them again. Couples would snuggle together in these rooms while on their honeymoon. Children would run wild through the parking lot waiting for the car ride that would take them to Florida’s first attractions still well south. Now only grass and weeds run wild.
Air conditioned – and just down the road souvenirs, film, food , whiskey and ice cream. Too far north for oranges. Just right for cold beer.
I like coming here… it’s quiet except for the occasional log truck along the highway heading south to the mills and of course the stray local or curious tourist. Not like it used to be – a steady stream of cars spilling across that bridge into the sunshine.
Yep, no trespassing. Trespassers will be stung or bitten – wasps and fire ants do the enforcing. No tourists – just bugs, heat and photographers.
Be sure to get off I-95 at Exit 3 in South Georgia and head west on Georgia 40 to US 17 in Kingsland (just a few miles away). Turn south on US 17 (left) and in a little bit you’ll cross that all too narrow bridge over the St. Marys River and you’ll be in Florida. Just a half mile south on your left you’ll find that first motel in Florida pictured above. Oh there’s no plaque or marker telling you about the history of this place, and that’s a shame. It was part of the gateway to the “New South” and it deserves recognition. It is for sale though! ^.^
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Thanks for your visit! Be sure to watch out for the fire ants!
Chris
Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 