Somewhere near Laredo, 1916

Our intrepid documentarian Cliff Curley is still working on gathering local history for his project with our PBS station (WMFE-24).

One of the things I gave him was this photo of the Orlando National Guard from 1916, when they were dispatched to the Texas-Mexico border to guard against Pancho Villa's raids.

Somewhere in that surly group are my great-uncles Frank and Cy Cox.

Can you spot them?!

The Union Church still stands!

Just got some email from Cliff Curley, who is still gathering material on pioneer families.

I had mentioned to him last week that the old Union Church built to house all the congregations in Pine Castle back in 1900, had been moved many years ago to a spot near Lake Whippoorwill on Narcoossee Road.

Back in those days, there weren't enough Baptists, Methodists, or Missionary Alliance folks to warrant building separate churches. So, they used a single building, and rotated circuit riding preachers. All denominations attended regardless of who was preaching.

Anyway, it didn't take Cliff long to find the "new" site of this historic structure.

He snapped this picture late yesterday afternoon.

Pretty cool to think it's still being used more than a century after it was built!