A Small Town Festival

I always welcome a chance to venture out into small towns near the area because it encourages the feeling of going back in time and simple pleasures. The announcement on the local news of a Catfish Festival in the little town of Kingsland, Georgia offered this type of opportunity. It was just under an hour's drive, involved interstate travel, and a festival always offers plenty of people watching to catch on camera. I enjoy these small Southern  towns because they bring back memories of the mountain towns back in Colorado. As usual, click each photo for a better view.

Despite the heat,  there were plenty of people attending the festival. Kingland's proximity to Kings Bay Naval Station probably added to the mix of families primed for an outing of food and fun.

Kingland is definitely a small town as you can see from this photo of the main street. Time moves slowly in places like this, and I can understand how at times in our fast paced world that can have its advantages.

And, you can imagine the excitement in the town because the festival probably brings in more people than the entire population. So for one day each year the Catfish fly and the town balloons with people.

There was all kinds of family friendly entertainment such as pony rides that offered the chance to not only ride a pony but also pet some very gentle dogs that would ride along with you. This little girl took the plung, and who could blame her. A pony and a puppy is always a winning combination.

For the more adventurous there was the rock climbing wall which really required some bravery because the column was pretty high. This young man was not deterred as he made his way to the top!

And for the smaller set, there was the barrel train powered by a riding lawn mower that provided a ride around the grounds.

I brought my bicycle and after a meal of very tasty catfish, rode around the town.  I learned from one of the locals that Kingsland is known as "Love Town" because it is possible for a lot of people, especially coming from Florida, to get a marriage license and ceremony all in the same day. Sort of like the small Las Vegas of the South. He also mentioned that Oprah was scheduled to feature the town as a reality show later in the year. Who knew!!

And, a final shot before packing up my bike for the trip back home. I came upon this little shop and there was something about the sign for "new and used items" and the folige that seemed to be eating the building alive that caught my eye. A fitting end for the day!

Small Town In America

I read a little about the town of Green Cove Springs and since I had been working a lot lately it felt good to take some time off during the week. I went expecting to visit their Train Museum but once I arrived, found that the museum is only open on Sundays.

Not to be denied, I decided to walk around and realized I had stepped a little back in time to small town America. As always, click each photo for a better view.

As you can read on the sign above, Green Cove Springs used to be a booming tourist town that people came to for the mineral springs at what was called "The Sarasota of the South." But then the railroads began to route people further south and the town was left behind. The town itself reminds me of mountain towns back in Colorado... isolated and a little slow but in a sleepy, pleasant way. There is something to be said for small town life that makes you remember a simpler time.

This old movie house was closed but just seeing it made me think of how excited I was as a girl to go to the movies and lose myself in the excitement of what was on the screen. These types of movie houses were small and intimate which served to make going to the movies an event, something lost at the Multi-plex.

The City Hall is a prominent fixture on the main road that runs through the town for all the people heading someplace else. It is a beautiful Mediterranean style building that seems almost inconsistent with the old style Florida feel of the rest of the area.

Green Cove Springs sits right on the St. Johns River and behind the City Hall is a little park and a pier that looks out over the St. John.

The park was nice enough with a little stream running through it, but the smell of sulfur from the mineral springs hung in the air.

From the park there is a great view of the St. Johns and a lovely view of the little pier. Evidently this area is a gathering spot in a small town without much happening. I ran into several teenagers just hanging out in the sun.

And then I saw it! Within a block of the river was this beautiful old house that almost had me expecting to see Mark Twain sitting on the wrap around porch. It was the kind of place that sent your mind into overdrive with thoughts of life on the river that Twain wrote about.

It looked like a personal home but I would have given anything to look around inside. I took a side view to give a sense of just how big the house is. I'll leave it to you to guess the number and size of the rooms. If you look closely near the chimney stacks is a deck or overlook and I could just imagine standing there late into the night looking out over the river. Again, a simpler time...