Revisting an old Inspiration

Sometimes on the side of the road there are historic places that almost everyone passes by without realizing they're still present. While out on our drive my guy and I stopped to revisit one, the remains of a sugar mill from 1825.

The only thing that protects the place is a chain-link fence, through which I took these pics. It's incredible to stand so close to something so old.

Compared to modern factories the ruins seem so small, barely larger than a house. Local lore tells us while using the first steam-powered cane-crushing mill in the region, Dummitt produced sugar and rum at the mill with the help of approximately 40 local Indians and 100 slaves. In turn, the Indians traded fresh game for the mill’s products.

It's a very quiet spot. Each time I go there I try to imagine 140 people working at the mill, most not by choice.

This is another place for which I want to write a story one day; perhaps a mystery of something found at the mill by a slave. It has that kind of slightly eerie presence when you look at it, a ruin still concealing an old secret.

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Better than Fried

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Stuff

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The Mercantile

If you don't mind walking 33K square feet in retail space, The Mercantile may be the vintage/arts store you'd enjoy visiting if you're ever in Orlando. I certainly did. Because it was busy I didn't take any photos in the store, but it's absolutely amazing and chock full of antiques and artisan creations, most of which were pretty reasonably priced. For $21.00 I invested in a picture of sailboats for the guest bathroom I'm redoing, and a fairy mystery jar of cool stuff. The jaw was hand-painted and decorated, and utterly charming. I think I wanted the jar more than the contents. As you can see the contents were both generous and pretty cool, too. I finally have some vintage gloves to use for my art quilter bingo challenge!

Rayen

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