Palatka, Florida: Old and New

This incarnation of the impressive Memorial Bridge over St Johns River in the background to this waterfront shot was built in 1976 and is taken from Palatka. It runs into East Palatka and is 4020 feet (or 1230 meters) long.

This historical marker is next to the police station in downtown Palatka:

'PALATKA

 

Established as a trading post in 1821, the settlement was burned in the Seminole War (1836). In 1838, the U.S. government constructed Fort Shannon which served as a garrison, supply depot and hospital for the forts in the southern area of Florida. Winfield Scott, Zachary Taylor and William T. Sherman were stationed here. During the Civil War the city was occupied by Federal troops. In the postwar period Palatka became one of the leading tourist centers of Florida.'

 

It's difficult today to imagine this lovely but rather sleepy little town as an important tourist center, although two notable people to be attracted towards Palatka were Harriet Beecher Stowe and Thomas Edison.

 

By the waterfront are other information boards, this one being about the trail of the naturalist William Bartram (1739–1823). Bartram is a rather obscure figure today, although he was once famous for his book Travels (1781), the full title of which reveals its subject matter fully: Travels through North & South Carolina, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws, Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. One of the most interesting points to note is that this publication influenced writers, the most notable being the early Romantics Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Palatka, Florida: City of Murals

Throughout downtown Palatka, in Putnam County, Florida, there is a series of murals, mostly very large, although some smaller. I managed to take a shot of nearly all of them, or at least for one reason or other – mainly the sheer size of them or the fact that an obstruction presented itself – what I considered as an essential detail of a mural.

The Putnam House hotel, circa 1891. This was a huge hotel, and once stood on this site.

The Mug Race takes place annually each weekend in May, from Palatka to Jacksonville.

Putnam County Jail, circa 1880.

Putnam County Courthouse, circa 1909.

Bronson-Mulholland House, circa 1854. This house is on the National Register of Historical Houses and kept by the Putnam County Historical Society.

 

Palatka City Hall, circa 1905. Once, this place also housed the fire station and a library.

 

J.T & K.W. Railroad Depot, circa 1886. The old building is more or less in the same place as the present station.

 

Old Palatka Waterworks, circa 1886–87. These were fed by a spring, driven by steam pumps with heat from a wood furnace, and continued in use until 1986.

 

 

Heartbeat of Palatka, circa 1890, 1909, and 1916. The main building on the left is the Old City Hall, which was demolished in 1963.

 

Wild flowers in Putnam County (details).

 

Florida jasmine, spiderwort, and butterfly weed.

 

Prickly pear, paint brush, and passion flower.

 

 

The Battle at Horse Landing, 23 May 1864 (detail).

 

 

To God Be the Glory, 1937–38. Billy Graham was baptised in Silver Lake and his first pulpit was at Peniel Baptist Church, both in Putnam County.

 

 

Night Passage (Ochlawaha Riverboat), circa 1884 (detail).

 

 

Bygone Days, circa 1880.

 

 

 

Putnam Treasures (details).

 

High Time in Palatka, circa 1872. This mural remembers street entertaining.

 

Mary Lawson Hospital, which opened in 1918 (detail).

 

Train Station. This is at the side of the Welcome Center, which we called the Unwelcome Center because for some reason known only to herself the woman who was working there treated us very offhandedly: my partner Penny found much more courtesy at the Chamber of Commerce.

 

Cattle Drive to Paynes Prairie, circa 1930 (detail).

 

 

Senator B. C. Pearce – Agricultural Mural (detail). Pearce passed legislation helping farmers.

 

Annie Oakley. She was a popular figure who brought her sharp-shooter show to town in 1908.

 

Harlem Nights in Palatka. The Belton Society Syncopaters.

 

Finally, a mural not included in the 'City of Murals' leaflet: a peace mosaic.