One of our favorite routes to SSI Casa de Playa is Hwy 341, or as its better known, the “Golden Isles Parkway.”  A four (4) lane highway along the backroads of middle Georgia running Southwest between Perry (Macon) and Brunswick, Hwy 341 is like taking a step back in time where families made their living off the land.  For miles and miles (168 miles to be exact) the roads are lined with the most beautiful pecan orchards, cotton fields and timber farms.

About an hour in to our first drive down Hwy 341 we noticed an old windmill and rusted water tower off in the distance.  They stood just high enough over the tree line that we didn’t see them until we were about half a mile away.

As we approached closer, we noticed an old house at the base.  Brush and trees had grown up all around it.  It was obvious a front porch once framed the house, but had long ago deteriorated to the point where it was dismantled and hauled away.

The front door with its faded blue paint leaned against the door jam and dingy brown curtains still hung in the window.   Collectively, the house, the windmill and the water tower were reminders of times gone with questions running through our minds…..who lived there? why did they leave this beautiful land behind?  where did the family go?

While I was taking pictures a white pick-up truck drove up.  The driver stepped out of the truck and I then noticed the “posted no trespassing signs.”  Quickly, I complimented him on the property and asked if I could take a few more pictures.  He smiled and obliged not seeming at all bothered with my request.

And then, as I pulled back on the lens for a wider shot of the property, I noticed that the times that appeared to be gone were not forgotten.  A neatly built wooden fence and freshly cut grass carefully framed the house and its two (2) towers.  To someone (perhaps the gentleman in the pick-up truck), this was still a part of their family and their history.