Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography
This blog is for my insights on life, the Bible, hiking adventures with my grandson and whatever is important to me
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2025-Week 37
Natalie’s Public Art Photo Challenge
Photo Credit:©️2025 Ron May … All Rights Reserved.
Location: Best Western Plus Hotel; Long Beach Convention Center; Long Beach, California, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Early in the mornings and in the afternoons while waiting for the school bus to arrive we watch the trains go chugging along down the track. The speed at which it moves varies from time to time and sometimes we notice the graffiti artwork painted on different railway cars. These are a few examples of the artwork we’ve seen.
Natalie’s Public Art Photo Challenge
Photo Credit:©️2024-2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Apple iPhones 14 Pro Max and 16 Pro Max
Location: Old Town; Riverside Community; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a funtastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Benches here are located within the Helix/R Pocket Park which is installed along the greenway off of Riverside Drive, near Downtown Cramerton. [This Pocket Park is just down our long block and across the road from where we live.]
The Helix/R is a 20-foot tall abstract sculpture created by John Rietta, Soulptor. It was dedicated in Cramerton on Thursday, June 26 along the Carolina Thread Trail on Cramer Mountain Road. It is located in a brand new Pocket Park named the Richard Atkinson Plaza in honour of Cramerton’s Mayor Pro-Tem.
During the dedication The Carolina Thread Trail and the Town of Cramerton, North Carolina cut the ribbon on the Helix/R sculpture officially opening the small Pocket Park to the public.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2025-Week 28.2
Natalie’s Public Art Photo Challenge
Photo Credit:©️2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV & 6-Star filter attachments.
Location: Helix/R Pocket Park; Richard Atkinson Plaza; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a fantastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Pull Up a Seat at
The Farmhouse Gardens
Daniel Stowe Conservancy
Welcome back to my saga of Benches, Chairs, and Other seating. This week we are continuing with Coleman’s Choices of Pulling Up a Seat at the Daniel Stowe Conservancy, we uncover a variety of seating arrangements Coleman selected to Pull Up a Seat. Coleman’s choices this week are located at The Farmhouse Garden Center on the grounds of The Village at Stowe.
Click on each image for enhanced enlarged viewing.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2025-Week 27
Photo Credit: ©️2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV & CPL filter attachments.
Location: The Farmhouse Garden Center; The Village at Stowe; Daniel Stowe Conservancy; Belmont, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The White Farmhouse which is now the Garden Center was once an administrative building. It has been thoroughly renovated and transformed into a charming garden retail and horticulture education center.
As you drive into The Village at Stowe you drive past this Dog Statuette. It signifies that dogs on leashes are welcomed here.
The steps lead to the front door are lined with flower pots filled with a variety of beautiful flowers inviting you to come on in and explore the garden.
Upon walking inside the Garden Center, you’ll find a mix of vintage farmhouse style and modern character. At The Farmhouse Garden Center you may purchase plants and gardening tools. However, that is not all that is offered. Here is a list of other options …
There is more to The Farmhouse Garden Center than just selling plants and various retail supplies. It also offers a variety of educational opportunities such as learning about gardening and all there is to know regarding plant care. It also provides workshops for floral arrangements and wreath making.
Natalie’s Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC)
Photo Credit:©️2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV & CPL filter attachments.
Location: The Farmhouse Garden Center; The Village at Stowe; Daniel Stowe Conservancy; Belmont, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a fantastic weekend. Take time to enjoy nature and all the beautiful flowers and sights all around. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
John with the blog photobyjohnbo is the host for this week’s Lens-Artist Challenge and he is giving us an opportunity to choose our own Word which would be appropriate for our topic, sharing three to four photos that go along with our Word topic choice.
For John’s Pick-a-Word challenge this week I have chosen to use the word Historic. The Word Historic means that something is famous or important in history, for an example a historical site.
The Town of Cramerton, (which we currently reside in) has a couple of different Historic places within walking distance to our home. On Saturday, Coleman and I walked up the road and around a bend for approximately 0.9 miles to the Historic Baltimore School.
The Historic Baltimore Village sign is located at the beginning of the road leading to the Historic Baltimore School. The Historic Baltimore School is located at 575 Baltimore Drive in Cramerton, North Carolina. It was built by Stuart Cramer, in the late 1920’s for the children of African American men and women who worked in the Cramer Mills and Cramer’s Dairy Farm and Orchards. The intention of the school was to educate the African Americans and provide skills to navigate segregation.
The Baltimore Village School sits on a hill near the South Fork Catawba River. Inside the building are cracked windows covered by boards, an old refrigerator on one side of the room, and patches of peeling paint hanging off the roof.
The school has been closed for quite some time, but a former Cramerton resident stepped in to preserve its history. Former residents Fred Glenn and his wife, Ernestine Glenn purchased the school building with plans to renovate it. They bought it to prevent it from being burned to the ground by the city’s fire department which had planned to do a control burn.
However, knowing the Historic importance of the Baltimore Village School, the Glenn’s wanted to protect and preserve the school for generations to come to be able to learn about its history and significance to the community.
Mr. Glenn has stated that the Baltimore Village School, where his mother and Aunt attended in the 1930’s, was the heartbeat of the community. The school building provided an alternative to places off-limits to African Americans. Back during that particular time period, African Americans did not have the opportunity of going to a cinema, or any such facility or theatre. The school building became the theatre for the Baltimore Village Community. The school building was also used as a place of worship and later used as a community center.
The Glenn’s and the Board of Directors for the Baltimore Village School are currently still trying to raise enough funds for the restoration of the Historic school. Once enough funds are raised the money will be used to turn the building into a community center and a museum for people to learn about a critical piece of history in the small town of Cramerton.
“History is not the past but a map of the past, drawn from a particular point of view, to be useful to the modern traveler”
— Henry Glassie
Lens-Artists Challenge #338-Pick a Word
Natalie’s Public Art Challenge
Photo Credit:©️2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max and Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: Historic Baltimore School; Historic Baltimore Village; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Tour an Historic Place. Learn about history not found in books. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
As Coleman and I were walking around Downtown Cramerton on the way back from Goat Island we walked through the backside of the businesses that run along Center Street. What we noticed were the Mural that were painted on the businesses back walls covering a good portion of the wall including the doors. The Mural pictured in the photos on the left are from the Skillet Southern Bistro’s back patio and outside dining area with plenty of room to enjoy the evening.
The Mural pictured on the right are from the outside back wall of Confluence South Fork. Confluence is a place to gather for young and old alike. It is run by the Catawba Riverkeepers. It offers beer for adults, sells artwork created by a local artist and souvenirs. It holds concerts for all to enjoy some specifically designed for children. It offers the ability for visitors to rent disc golf discs, cornhole bags, and ping pong paddles to ball at Goat Island Park and Greenway located across the road from its location.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2025-Week 6
Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC)
Photo Credit:©️2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Fusion Camera
Location: Backside of Center Street; Downtown Cramerton; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Sasquatch & Coleman
This (PPAC) of Bigfoot ( also known as Sasquatch) is located on the Disc Golf Trail at Goat Island Park and Greenway in Cramerton, North Carolina. This is the first time Coleman and I hiked this trail since Hurricane Helene. After the flood damage to the trail in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene; the trail was blocked off prohibiting access temporarily until repairs could be completed. We did not recall seeing Sasquatch previously. Coleman was fascinated by the Bigfoot and had to check it out.
Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC)
Photo Credit:©️Deb L. Waters .., All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max; Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV filter attachment
Location: Disc Golf Trail; Goat Island Park and Greenway; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography 