20. Jun, 2009

Meander through Macclenny

Downtown MaclennyIt’s not often I’m up in the upper tier of the state, pressed against the Georgia border, but a recent visit to Charleston, SC set up the conditions for us to meander through Macclenny and a few other backroads communities. Along US 90 and the railroad tracks, this is a quiet Florida town, the county seat of Baker County, with a small historic district, a genealogical library, and a historic courthouse that now serves as an education center: the public library.

Early in the morning, there wasn’t much going on, but I was sorry to see that the antique shop where I’d bought a copy of the WPA book on Florida for $10 was now gone. There’s a yarn store – the Local Needle – and one other long-standing antique shop in a historic home, plus a corner shop filled with fancy fabric purses, but otherwise all’s quiet in downtown Macclenny, and I bet they like it that way.