Slavia

I had planned to do a bit more exploration up and down SR-426, looking for the remains of Slavia, the community from the early 20th century for which the cemetery bears the same name. I found the old Martin Stano store, sitting empty and falling apart on 426, silently watching the traffic go past on the big five-lane road that SR-426 has become.

I tried to stand in the same location that the unknown photography stood in to take the black and white in 1926. I almost got it right. It was an old Florida combination general store and gas station, which would have been handy in that area back in those days. The gas island is still there but the gas pump is long since gone and the plumbing that once led to a storage tank filled over.

Yes, that's a National Trust for Historic Preservation sticker on the front door. Does that mean it's part of the trust? I don't know. I would have thought that some stranger didn't run up one day and randomly slap the sticker on the front door, that having such a designation would help preserve it better. But this area is right smack in the middle of booming urban sprawl, complete with growing gated communities and newly minted little shops. Right next door, on the other side of East Red Bug Road sits a brand spanking new empty building for some budding small business to move into. Now all they need to do is develop all that other empty and unused land around the old Martin Stano store and they'll have a newly minted thriving business community. There's a lot more money in that than history preservation. After all, it's just an ugly old little building. What's one less ugly old building going to matter in the greater scheme?

Technical

After the robbery I left the house with just the E-PL1 and the Panasonic 20mm, plus a spare battery. That's what I used here.