Home for the Holidays
Center Street, Wallingford, Connecticut
I went back to my hometown, Wallingford, Connecticut, for the holidays this past year and decided to photograph downtown, curious to see how much had changed from what I remembered. Strange to see so much had changed, and yet it was still the same….
Railroad Station - Built 1871
Police Department - Originally Connecticut State Armory, Built 1920
Main Street
This section of Main Street was where my favorite bar, aptly titled Main Street, used to be. I never realized how historic my former watering hole was. The Episcopal church at the far left was built in 1868. The next building, where my favorite bar was housed on the first floor, known as the William Wallace Block, was built in 1857. The building on the far right, which is now a restaurant, was the first First National Bank in Wallingford, built in 1921.
These Still Exist?
Original Bank of Wallingford - Now Bank of America
The Center Street Cemetery, which is located, surprise, in the center of town, on Center Street. (You can see the outside wall of the cemetery in the Center Street image, top of the page.) The cemetery dates back to the late 1600′s. Some notables found here: Lyman Hall, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Mose Y Beach, founder of AP, and Thomas Yale, founder of Yale University.
Lyman Hall, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Gravesite
Tombstones from the Early 1800's
This is only a small sampling of the wonderful history & historical sites in this town. Looking back on this trip, strange how much of this history I never even noticed growing up there. I could probably spend days photographing everything, but that’s probably true of most small towns in New England.
Walking Up Center Street
Landfill
This is the local yard waste landfill. I never new this place existed until a friend brought me here after we did some landscaping. It’s unbelievable how large this place is. All the images were taken with my Droid phone.
Brandon Pence – Digital Artist
I’m in the midst of a series of portraits of local artists. The first artist, Brandon Pence, is a good friend of mine and a very cool digital artist. Two things I found out about Brandon during this shoot, he likes fire and breaking things.
Check out Brandon’s work HERE. 
The Medieval Juggler
A Renaissance Festival is an interesting thing. It’s like a step back in time, the costumes, jousts, falcons, dragon and faerie artwork. I remember, years ago, my sister went to one of these festivals. She hacked up a bridesmaid’s dress and her and her husband went in costume. The dress looked better all medieval than it did as the bridesmaid’s dress.
This juggler was cool. He did his act about five feet in the air, balancing on boards and a pvc tube. To get the shots, I stood in the back of the crowd, on a chair.
When his act was done, I turned to find a man filming me photographing the juggler. Hmm….just a little creepy. Get your medieval on….
Fort Pickens
I finally made it to Fort Pickens on Pensacola Beach. The road, the only road, to the fort has been closed for years because of the destruction from hurricanes. Arriving at the Fort, you can take the guided tour with the tour guide, or the self guided tour with a pamphlet. Of course I took the pamphlet. According to the pamphlet, there are sixteen points of interest or sections starting with the Sallyport, the entrance to the fort, ending with Bastion D, the corner of the fort.. The problem with Bastion D is that it really isn’t there. It was destroyed in an explosion in 1899.
Crumbling Wall of Bastion D
Some of the arches from the top of the fort.
There is still debris left over from the hurricanes on the side of the road to Fort Pickens. This large rusty thing, yes that’s what I call it, was in the sand along the way.
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