Remembering a Family Home

There were many road trips made, over the years, from the Davis home—wherever it might have been at the time—to Rubie Davis' maternal roots in Florida.

Among my aunt’s collection of photographs preserving memories of such trips were snapshots from long after her childhood, some presumably during her years as a student at Ohio State University.

I often wonder whether some of these trips—featuring scenes that just happened to be set on the campuses of rival football teams—were made in the late 1940s based on OSU’s game schedule. After all, my aunt was a devoted Buckeye fan.

One set of photos, taken in March of 1949, featured my aunt’s grandmother, Sara Broyles McClellan, first on the grounds of the University of Tampa, then in a setting far from her Tampa home.

Perhaps it was with a bit of nostalgia that my great grandmother took her place to pose in front of her former home in Fort Meade, Florida. You may have remembered a post I wrote about this home, upon discovering that an enterprising individual had taken up the challenge to rescue the home from demolition and rehab the building.

Though this photograph of Sara McClellan was taken in black and white, it’s interesting to compare the 1949 version of its façade with a photograph of the recent recreation.

I am still hoping, someday, to actually visit the place, standing in the same spot where my great grandmother posed almost sixty five years ago.