Old Florida #4

Old and charming as it may be in many ways, not all of old Florida is also beautiful. This morning all I seemed to see were ugly and dilapidated places with no redeeming qualities.

I've checked out three books from the public library about Manatee County and Bradenton history and will follow up on a few leads to homes and buildings of merit.

In the meantime, I found this abandoned shed in the village of Cortez. It is obvious that it has been added to and 'improved' over the years, with varying degrees of success. Going by my memories of earlier days, and the fencing, I would say that this has been used as a pig yard or chicken coop. The jalousie windows are much newer than the structure (mid-1950's is when they were popular in Florida). and there are three styles of metal fencing. The gates with their decorative tops go back at least to the early 1900's.

I liked the way it was half hiding under the tall palms, almost as if it is ashamed to be seen in such a sad condition. Needless to say, I've tweaked the color more than a little and done a lot of cropping and blurring of the edges.