Veterans and their families who visit the May-Stringer Museum are often surprised to see the impressive collection of military uniforms and equipment. An entire room is dedicated to the display of this collection. Photographs and notes about the person who wore the uniform are also displayed when possible.
There’s a saying that goes like this: “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” I believe this is especially true in politics. This past week has been a nail-biter when it came to the presidential election, one that saw many people rejoice and many others lament. But this isn’t rare in politics. Several elections of the twentieth century and one in the twenty-first century were controversial and contentious.
by MARY SHELDON, President Hernando Historical Museum Assoc., Inc.
The big news in the November 9th issue that year was the re-election of Franklin D. Roosevelt to an unprecedented fourth term. Little did anyone know that he would not live to finish his term, dying only five months later. At that time, Hernando County was predominantly Democrat.
Our time machine seems to be acting peculiarly – as if it’s haunted. It’s only stopping at the days prior to Halloween for the past seventy years. Some of the news stories are scarier than any mythical ghosts, goblins, or werewolves! But let’s begin with the lighter side of Halloween.
It’s time to get back into our time machine and see what was happening in Hernando County some eighty or so years ago. Our first stop is October 21, 1938 as it appears on the pages of that day’s Brooksville Sun. The country was still recovering from the stock market crash of 1929 and in Europe ominous events were taking place. Hitler had just invaded a part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland, thanks to the appeasement policies of Britain, France and Italy. The United States was not involved in the goings-on at that time.
World War II has been over for twenty-four years, but another war is raging in Viet Nam. The space race has been launched, resulting in Americans landing on the moon. Three prominent American figures have been assassinated – President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. The Civil Rights Act has been signed into law and the War on Poverty has started.
by Mary Sheldon, President Hernando Historical Museum Assoc., Inc.
The final resting place of many of western Hernando County’s early settlers lies deep in the overgrown vegetation of palms and vines near Bayport.
The headstones that marked the graves of those people, however, are about 20 miles away at the May-Stringer Museum.
It’s worth the climb to the third floor of the May-Stringer Museum. You’ll find yourself in the base of the tower and at the entrance to the fascinating attic.
This small area serves as an exhibit space for a collection of cameras and photographs. Professional photographers plied their trade during the Civil War. Soldiers often ’sat for their likeness’ so their families would have something to remember them by if they didn’t make it home from the War. Studio portraits were common after the War.
