Hastings potato capital (#0350)

About 50 miles south of Jacksonville, SR 13 and the river part, leaving you in what was then (and still largely is) farmland. Sixty years ago, Hastings was a thriving small farm town with lots of people on the streets that appeared to be farmhands, a railroad track with sidings for loading potatoes (their key crop), and lots of pickup (and larger) trucks. The surrounding area still has large acres of farmland, but changes from many decades ago eliminated the small family plot and automation reduced the workers, resulting in the town now being fairly deserted and the railroad tracks pulled up.

Where I’m standing is where SR 13 (the route we took in those days) came into the center of town along the railroad track. I was somewhat negligent in taking photos here, since I’m not showing that to my back is a section of the old railroad tracks that have been converted to a park, and that there’s a nice, historic, residential neighborhood along that park.

(Part of a photo-essay series on personal history and race, with keyword FlaAla0518)