Milton, Florida

Historic downtown Milton, Florida. to the far right you can see the newly opened Liberty Cafe, famous for their chicken chili. their food is quite good and reasonably priced. further to the left you can see Sun Comics, milton's only comicbook shop. though it doesn't look like much from the outside, it's chock full of comicy goodness. as well stocked as many i frequented in Dallas.

this is the Riverwalk. basically it's a pier that runs under the Hwy 90 bridge the length of downtown. in March they have the Arts Festival and in April the had the Scratchankle festival (more on that below.), and on July 4th people gather here to watch the fireworks display. the area was once a dock for ships and barges which ran lumber and other goods along the coast. when i was growing up here it was mostly warehouses and boatdocks.

before it became incorporated as Milton, the town was known as Scratchankle. it got its name from the large amount of dewberry bushes which still grow heavily in this area. the plants are covered with small sharp briars. the festival, which started back in the 1970s has been absent for the past few years since hurricanes Ivan and Dennis wrecked havok downtown, and sadly, this year wasn't the best festival i've seen. mostly overpriced food vendors and a few exhibits. hopefully it will improve next year.

one of the main features of Riverwalk Park is the War Memorial commemorating war veterans dating back to the civil war. the red bricks are etched with the names of soldiers who were native to Milton and the surrounding area. around the parameter (visible in the background) are huge plaques giving a bit of history about each war with dates for battles and so on.