Our History Road Trip

Sunday, Beauty and I skipped church (they were having a guest speaker we did not wish to hear) and spent the morning dabbling in our garden.

She repotted flowers and filled birdfeeders.

I splashed around in the pool dipping out leaves and cleaned up artifacts to demonstrate for my “Overview of Jacksonville History” speech on Tuesday (see my January 10^th blog posting). Although I’ve given this same talk several times before, I still get nervous about it.

I plan to use computer links and rusty historical artifacts to illustrate the talk (an 1842 penny, a Civil War sword, a shotgun, a World War I artillery shell, an Indian arrowhead, etc.)

Last month, the librarian at Argyle Branch Library, (7973 Old Middleburg Road, Jacksonville, FL, 32222, Phone Number: (904) 573-3164) invited me to give a lecture on an overview of Jacksonville history at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16^th.

Since Ginny and I had never been to that section of the city before, we decided to drive out there beforehand to see where this library is located in advance before we needed to be there at a specific time.

Glad we did!

There are several ways to get there. None of them easy.

If you plan to attend, print up a Map-Quest map or something of the sort and leave home extra early because this place is at the opposite end of the world. Even with maps, it was really hard for us to find!

We took the scenic route.

We drove out Lenox Avenue past all signs of civilization till the name of the road changes to Old Middleburg Road. Out there the landscape changes and houses sit, not on lots, but on acreage. We drove past barns and horse farms and huge chicken coops. We viewed vast tracks of swampland and thick forest and piney woods.

Watch out for deer along the roadway.

If you ever need to dispose of a body in Jacksonville, this is the place.

It was a delightful drive and we enjoyed talking, holding hands, and seeing the scenery scroll past. We looked for a restaurant for lunch but never found one open.

Right as we got to the library — a huge, ultra-modern, state-of-the-art, basilica-like brick structure near the intersection with Argyle Forest Blvd. — the scene abruptly changed.

Trees plowed under.

Top soil scraped away down to bare clay.

Florida woods strip-mined raw to make way for shopping malls and ticky-tacky housing developments.

Just what Jacksonville needs most — another store.

And instant slums, just add people.

Heart-breaking.

Oh well, this too is history.

Besides, God did not make this world to last forever.

The only thing down here that lasts forever is people.