Wednesday, November 13, 2019

It was both a day and a world away



When I was a young man I loved to take my motorcycle and later my Morgan roadster and head south or places as distant as Georgia or even Alabama and Arkansas. I loved the little towns that dotted the route in the '60s. I stayed at hotels that were so ancient that even at that time they were considered heritage buildings. 

Recently, I found this photo from Helena, Georgia. I took it using a Kodak Instamatic, in the '60s. I checked the Net and learned that at least as recently as a few years ago, the Fire Station was still in use. It looked the same except for a coat of white paint. The City Hall seemed to have been moved but the building was still standing in the photo I found. It had had a few changes, the roof line appeared different, but it  was still standing and still in use.

I loved the southern States but I have to admit that I truly appreciated southwestern Ontario on returning from an adventure. I came to think of the States as a land of extremes. Once traveling through Mississippi I discovered a town so poor that it had resorted to hand-painted, four-foot-square, plywood stop signs to control traffic.

Incredible!

And if you're wondering how I linked this image to a southwestern Ontario city, it was easy. Southwestern Ontario is cold for a lot of the year. A great many of us regularly escape the cold to head south and thanks to the Interstate highway system, heading south is easy. I can be in Kentucky in only seven or eight hours. Tennessee may be another four hours and then one has pretty well escaped winter. This picture was taken during one of those escapes.

2 comments:

William Kendall said...

Well worth holding onto this shot.

Luis Gomez said...

I love the texture in this print. Thank you for sharing this. I have always been amazed at how some towns survive regardeless of anything.