Continuing my self guided historical tour of Lake Worth found me at I.A. Banks Memorial Park, a…read morehistorically black cemetery. The cemetery was originally called the Osborne Municipal Cemetery. It was renamed I. A. Banks Memorial Park in 1983 in honor of Reverend I. A. Banks (1890 - 1975). Reverend Banks was the founder and 35 year pastor of New Hope Baptist Church which is located diagonally across the street from the cemetery. In 1885 Samuel and Fannie James, believed to be former slaves, were among the first people to homestead this area before it became Lake Worth. Fannie petitioned for and operated the first post office in what was then called Jewell. In 1914 other Bahamians and African-Americans settled in between Lake Worth and Lantana which was the only area they were permitted to be in due to segregation. When Lake Worth's first municipal cemetery Pine Crest was created in 1923, it was whites only. Blacks had to be buried in Boynton Beach or West Palm Beach. In 1960, Lake Worth established the 1.5-acre Osborne Municipal Cemetery for black residents. The first cemetery care taker was David U. Millines. Recently the city paid to have the cemetery fenced in for added security. I.A. Banks Memorial Park contains 262 graves including veterans. This cemetery is part of the Florida Historical Marker Program, one of the Division of Historical Resources' most popular and valued public history programs. It raises awareness of Florida's cultural history while enhancing the enjoyment of historic sites for residents and tourists. The blue historic markers tell the stories of the people and places that were important to Florida's history and they can be found in front of churches, schools, buildings, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, and cemeteries like this one. Historic marker F-1234 was installed in 2023 by the City of Lake Worth Beach and the Florida Department of State.

This is a historic cemetery founded in 1892 by the Evergreen Cemetery Company in what was then…read moreknown as Lantana Point. The land for the cemetery was purchased by Morris B. Lyman, the founder of Lantana. The cemetery is a city block long and 85 feet wide. There are 20 headstones but an unknown number of African-Americans and sailors washed up on the beaches are also buried here. There is also a mass grave containing victims of the 1928 Hurricane. The earliest grave here is from 1886. Morris B. Lyman and his father, Morris K. Lyman are buried here. In addition to founding the town, Morris was also the towns first postmaster. He chose the name Lantana for the flowering plant that grew in the area. Sadly soon after Morris purchased the cemetery, he and his wife Mary buried their nine month old daughter, Bertha Rachel. Also buried in this cemetery is Dan McCarley, the areas first Barefoot Mailman. The Barefoot Mailmen were US postal workers who delivered the mail in South Florida from 1885 to 1893 by walking barefoot on the beach from Palm Beach to Miami. Dan also became Lantana's first chief of police. Burials in the cemetery ended in 1950 so that the only people buried here are city pioneers. The City of Lantana currently owns the cemetery and in 2012 a fence was installed. In the center of the cemetery is a large Banyan tree. A historical marker was installed explaining the historical significance of this cemetery. This is a well maintained an excellent place to explore the history of this quaint beach side town.

Old cemeteries like this one contain important information about history and genealogy. Pine Crest…read moreCemetery also has one of the blue historic markers in front of it that is part of the Florida Historical Marker Program. The Historical Marker program is one of the Division of Historical Resources' most popular and valued public history programs. It raises awareness of Florida's cultural history while enhancing the enjoyment of historic sites for residents and tourists. The blue historic markers tell the stories of the people and places that were important to Florida's history and they can be found in front of churches, schools, buildings, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, and cemeteries like this one. Historic marker F-1235 was installed in 2023 by The City of Lake Worth Beach and the Florida Department of State. When Lake Worth was incorporated in June 1913, it had 700 residents along with a post office, several stores, a church, bank, school, and a newspaper. However, there was no cemetery and all burials were made in Woodlawn Cemetery in West Palm Beach or privately. In 1915, the Lake Worth government appointed a committee to find a suitable location for a cemetery. The committee found a 9.2 acre parcel in the southwest corner of town. Lake Worth purchased it for $10 per acre for a total of $920.00. The first recorded burial took place in July of 1923. The city held a contest to name the cemetery and compromised between two suggestions, Pine Crest. The original cemetery was Sections A through P. In 1935, the American Legion requested that the city designate a portion of Pine Crest Cemetery as a memorial plot for service men. In response the city created section I which was set aside for veterans at no charge, with standard government markers. American Legion Post #47 donated the labor and material for sidewalks. Veterans from the Spanish American War, and World War I and II were laid to rest here. In 1949, the city acquired more land on the western edge of the cemetery and created sections 1 through 30. Until 1970 the cemetery was segregated with only whites buried here while black residents were buried nearby at I. A. Banks Memorial Park, formerly Osborne Municipal Cemetery. In 1971 Pine Crest cemetery was enlarged again to a total of 17.25 acres and 8,625 burials. Section BB is for infants. A time capsule was buried on the grounds in 1976 by the Lake Worth Centennial Committee and the Lake Worth Civic Council. It will be opened July 4, 2076. Pine Crest Cemetery is very peaceful and well maintained. Despite the age, the graves look well tended and there are beautiful flowering royal poinciana and plumeria trees. The city recently added a fence for added security.

This is a beautifully maintained local cemetery. I have only visited a handful of times, but each…read moretime, it has been free of visible trash, with bright green grass and no one loitering. There are shady parts with trees, as well as long stretches of mostly car free pavement. Parking inside is limited to certain hours, and only certain gates are open dawn to dusk. It is appears fully gated. There is limited sidewalk access outside of it.

I visited the Cultural Council for Palm Beach after reading about the kinetic energy exhibit which…read morefeatured sports in Palm Beach County. The exhibit included artwork depicting soccer to Polo. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 12 noon to 5 PM, it is free to visit and there is plenty of on street parking nearby. I was welcomed in by a very pleasant greeter who shared information about the gallery and was obviously passionate about it. I found it very interesting that all artwork on display is by Palm Beach County artists. The gallery is bright and well curated. There is a small gift shop. Restrooms were very clean and well stocked. When visiting downtown Lake Worth, I recommend a visit to the cultural council for Palm Beach. You can see all that the gallery has to offer in less than one hour.

There is a wealth of info about art in my county shared by the Council. Their frequent emails &…read moremailings keep me well informed. We are so fortunate to have so much talent here! The council was created in 1978 to promote and support art and culture in the county. In 2010 the Montgomery family donated the Streamline Moderne Building to the cultural council. There are informative staff, many galleries and a beautiful gift shop.

This is the burial site of the unidentified African Americans who perished during the hurricane of…read more1928 in West Palm Beach. In 1913 Palm Beach set aside land for three pauper cemeteries of which this was one. In 1928 the category 4 Okeechobee hurricane killed 2,500 people, the majority were people of color who were migrant farm workers around the lake. The hurricane caused the five foot dike around Lake Okeechobee break flood causing many people to drown. A thousand white people who died were given a mass burial at Woodlawn cemetery while the African Americans were either burned or placed into mass graves. This site was one of the places to receive a mass burial. It is thought 674 bodies lie here. Time went on and the burial was largely forgotten since no memorial was ever placed to mark it. In 1950 road work on 25th street unearthed some bodies but there was still no urgency to do anything about it. The land changed hands several times until it was purchased by Bernard Kolkana who wanted to build a warehouse on the property. No one knew about the bodies until the Sankofa Society with a Yoruba leader did a blessing on the property. The idea to do something to honor the hurricane victims gained traction when Robert Hazard established non-profit organization to try to acquire the land in order to put up a memorial and possibly some sort of museum. In 2000 a Miami company was hired to do ground penetrating radar to determine where the bodies were. They discovered that they were in two layers in a 70 by 30 foot trench. The city decided to use eminent domain to take the land back from Kolkana who refused to sell it to them. At first they were only going to give him the $1,000 assessed value but then they eventually decided to pay him $180,000. Finally a memorial was constructed. On September 12, 2002 the burial site was designated a US National Registered Historic Place. On the 75th anniversary of the hurricane in 2003 the city added a historical marker. The hurricane was dramatized in Nora Neale Hurston's most famous work Their Eyes Were Watching God. On my visit the memorial was very peaceful and deserted except for two gentleman who were sitting on lawn chairs by the arbor. The grave is enclosed by a fence and it has stone markers bearing the date 1928. Even though the hurricane was the second deadliest hurricane in the United States behind Galveston Texas it has largely been forgotten as has it's victims. The pioneers who built Florida deserve to be remembered and the city taking control of the memorial is a step in the right direction.

I discovered JC Iron Ornamental Works when riding around an area of East Boca Raton which is…read moreexperiencing construction of a lot of new modern homes. There was one home with balcony railings being installed, I stopped and walked up to the technician and asked him if I could look closer at the railings. He said sure, and then I walked into this strikingly modern home, only to discover a wonderful aluminum and glass staircase leading to the second floor. Both the balcony railings and staircase structure were custom made by JC Iron Ornamental. Beautiful craftsmanship is an understatement. I made contact with the company's owner, Juan Carlos, who willingly made an appointment to visit our home in East Boca Raton from his workshop in West Palm Beach. At that time, I was considering adding a spiral staircase leading to the flat roof of our house to create a roof terrace. Juan Carlos prepared a proposal and provided technical information how the flat roof would need to be supported to receive the spiral staircase, as well as information I was not aware of - the need for a railing around the entire flat roof. After much consideration, that project was scrapped. We returned to JC when we made a final decision to have custom aluminum gates and fencing created for our new circular driveway. He came out to the property again to review the scope of the project and to take his own measurements, even though we already had an approved architectural drawing of the site. We visited his workshop again to select the color of the powder coated paint which would be baked over the aluminum. He met his operations manager, Diego V., who has provided efficient support throughout the project. We also visited after the gates and fencing were manufactured to see them in their raw state, while being welded with blow torches, before buffing, which precedes the powder coating. Each time, we were impressed with the efficiency of the operation and the chemistry between all of the shop workers. I should note that we gave JC photos of other gates and fences we had seen and said "we want something like this" and his design emulated what we liked, but elevated it to the next level. The fencing and gates are are strong and handsome looking looking, if I can use those terms. The powder coating job is outstanding, as well as all of the welding, the joining of pieces is seamless. The gates and fencing were expertly installed, Juan Carlos personally working the installation, along with his crew. And it was a typical South Florida day, with a heat index with humidity making it feel like 106! The guys didn't miss a beat and their commitment to professionalism is evident in the final product. If you need anything created in metal, this is the company to use. Juan Carlos takes pride in his design and manufacturing, and works at each major installation to ensure perfection.

Foreverglades is an art exhibit on a steamboat in Howard Park across from the Kravis Center for the…read morePerforming Arts. The tiny pond at the north end of the park the boat is floating on was once the Stub Canal and Turning Basin. It was large enough for barges that carried passengers and produce from Belle Glade, a farming community south of Lake Okeechobee that was settled in 1925 and which provided food for the area. Later on the main crop became sugar and large corporations like Domino Sugar and Florida Crystals changed the land and stopped the flow of water to the Everglades. Boat service from Belle Glade started on May 17,1918 when 5,000 crates of vegetables were transferred to 10 railway freight cars. After a railroad line and highway opened in the 1920's, boat travel to fell out of favor and the 1928 Hurricane destroyed the boat docks. Now all that is left of the large waterway is what looks like a small retention pond with a fountain. Foreverglades is funded by the Knight Foundation, the Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs, and the West Palm Beach Arts & Entertainment District. Photographer Sofia Valiente lived in Belle Glade for five years and her pictures focus mainly on the African-Americans who live and work in Belle Glade. Many of them work on the farms and in the fields despite poverty and the region being hit by floods, drought, and hurricanes. She wanted to show how Belle Glade influenced the growth of this region of Florida. The pictures hang on the walls of a 41 foot replica of a 1920's steamboat that was built in Miami, hauled by truck to West Palm Beach, and placed into the lake by a crane. Sofia chose to show her work in a boat to highlight the link between Belle Glade and the town it helped to grow, West Palm Beach. This exhibit runs until February 2020 and is free. You can access the boat from a walking path that runs around the pond. Photographer Sofia Valiente staffs the exhibit so you can speak to her when you visit. Belle Glade is an area that has been ignored by the rest of the state but it was a place I wanted to know more about. This exhibit made me want to visit and explore it myself. I love the history this exhibit highlights and how it shines a light on an area and people that doesn't attract a lot of attention despite their agricultural contributions to the community.

Greg's Masonry did all the block work for an approx. 700 sq ft addition at my home and they did a…read morephenomenal job! The work was excellent. The crew was fantastic. The whole process was easy and smooth. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again and highly recommend them.

The team at Greg's masonry works together like a well-choreographed team. Twelve of them showed up…read moreand had our guest house up in seven hours. They worked hard and did beautiful work. They are also friendly and cleaned up after themselves. Joe, the owner, is accessible and nice. Manny, the foreman on site, was likewise very communicative and responsive. We will be using them to build our garage.