Re: Midway 1925

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org>]

>Thanks for the wonderful photos.  You've put up a number of them on the site, 
>and they're all interesting.  

The Midway ones were taken by James Augustus LeConte b. 1870.
and by Jane Sinclair Quarterman, and provided by Louis LeConte
and David Leon Quarterman.

>I believe we may need to rethink the dating on the pictures of Midway Church
>with surrounding stores.  I thought I read somewhere that the concrete road
>(U.S. 17) was first proposed in 1926, then widened in the 1950's.  If you'll
>note, the pavement is not there in Jane's picture dated 1925.  

In that picture, the perspective seems to show almost solely the grassy area
in front of the church.  The road may be out of the frame.

>Although the slogans on the stores are older, proprietors could have left old 
>signs up after the slogans have changed.  At least that was common when I was 
>growing up in rural Chatham county in the '60s.  :-)  Besides, is it just me, 
>or don't those signs look like they've aged a bit before the photo was taken?

Could be.  The dating of the slogans mostly provides an earliest timeframe.

>Here's a possible scenario: The stores were built between 1916-1922.  Your
>Aunt Jane took her photo in 1925, moving in close enough to leave out the
>stores.
>Then the road was paved after 1926, and Mr. LeConte's picture with concrete 
>road and stores was taken.

Could be.

And in the 1946 picture, it looks like the road may be asphalt.
This matches what Dad (Jane's brother) said it was in that picture:
asphalt over concrete.

>-Connie
>
>P.S.  I'll see if I can hunt up a source for the age of the highway.

Good idea.  That would help with the dating.

If you could also find out when the asphalt was added to the concrete,
that would help date the earlier picture.

John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>

>--- "John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org> wrote:
>>
>>Here are pictures of Midway Cemetery and Church taken June 21, 1925:
>> http://www.quarterman.org/pictures/midway1925/
>>
>>John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>
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