Micanopy, northwest Fla. 2018. Paul Goldfinger ©. The owner stays open until tourists drive off.

Paul Goldfinger,  MD.   Editor Blogfinger.net

In the 19th century, the town of Micanopy, Fla. prospered with agriculture;  in sequence came cane sugar, cotton, vegetables, oranges and lumber.

In 1836 there was a battle with the local Seminole Indians.   The US Army showed up to rescue the town, and a fort was built.  There were settlers and some slaves in the town.  But later the town’s founder Moses Levy, a Jewish immigrant from Morocco, encouraged schools and opposed slavery.

These days (December, 2018) it is a tourist town on the National Historic Register. Antiques used to be big in Micanopy,  but now millennials hate that old stuff.  It is a fine place to visit and explore for a couple of hours.

Last year I bought a T shirt, but this year they were sold out.  The town panhandler hit me up, and a young couple were posing for a professional wedding photographer.   I snapped a couple of frames from a distance;  the groom looked at me and gave me a grin and a thumbs up.

A guitarist was playing outside some shops.  He said that he has made some country recordings. A hat on the ground collected some change and bills.  Christmas decorations were scattered about.

Micanopy is near Gainesville (U. of Florida) and had a population of 600 in the last Census.

BOB DYLAN:  “The Man in Me.”

Bob Dylan. Photographer unknown.

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