Saturday's clean out and reorganization of the mathom closet revealed a stash of old photos from my maternal grandparents. I already have several of their old photo albums but some of these were new to me.
The photo above says on the back: Taken on trip down the east coast of Florida Dec, 1922.My grandfather was thirty; my grandmother a few years older, and they'd been married for seven years. Along for the ride were their five-year-old daughter (my mother,) "Father' (my grandmother's widowed father who lived with them,) and a Mr. Quinn, about whom I know nothing. Possibly a friend of Father's?Notice all the luggage (grips, as my grandparents called them) strapped on the running board.
My grandparents had fairly recently moved from Troy, Alabama to Lakeland, Florida and this may have been their first exploration of the state that was to be their home. The pineapple field they visited must have been a source of amazement. (In later years, after their move to Tampa, my grandfather tended a succession of pineapple plants, grown from the tops of the fruit. And some persevered to bear fruit themselves.)
At Miami Beach. That's my mother in the foreground, watched over by Father. I'm guessing that's my grandmother and grandfather in the background. Presumably Mr. Quinn took the picture.
The last shot is of West Palm Beach. The Florida land boom/bubble (1924-1926) with unchecked development is just a few years away. A hundred and two years and these lovely scenes are long gone.
