A Publix Rodeo at the Town Corral

Publix #136 (the first) / Food World #721 / Publix #282 (the first)

1202 Bermuda Avenue (now John Young Parkway) -

Town Corral Shopping Center - Kissimmee, FL

Today's post is a presentation of Osceola County retail

     Howdy y'all, it's time for us to wrangle up some former Publix stores down at the ol' Town Corral! After recently finishing my posting series to celebrate the 10th anniversary of AFB, I want to dive just a little bit deeper into a former supermarket located next door to one of the former Albertsons stores I profiled during the celebration series. Located just steps away from former Albertsons #4410, another former supermarket hides within the walls of Kissimmee's Town Corral Shopping Center, that being a former Publix. I had originally thought about including today's photos as part of my post where we toured the auction of the former Albertsons a few hundred feet away, but that post was pretty long as it was, so I figured I could pull out this portion for a separate MFR feature of its own. While my tour of the former Albertsons in its abandoned state proved to be quite the interesting experience, the former Publix proved to be pretty interesting too. It wasn't to the level of that old Albertsons (which will certainly be hard to beat), but for a building that hasn't housed a supermarket since the late 1980's, I was quite impressed with what relics could still be found on the premises. We'll get to see those relics in just a moment, but first, here's a quick recap of this shopping center's history:

     Town Corral Shopping Center was originally constructed in 1967, with the center's grand opening celebrations happening that May. The original section of Town Corral Shopping center was the long strip facing Bermuda Avenue (now John Young Parkway), containing anchor stores TG&Y, Publix, and Eckerd Drugs. The new shopping center was one of Kissimmee's earliest, located just north of downtown in the city's original retail strip along US 192/Vine Street. Bermuda Avenue/John Young Parkway and US 192 comprise Kissimmee's primary north-south and east-west arterials, so this was a prime location for the construction of a new shopping center. A few years after the center's original construction, a Zayre Discount Store was added as a 4th anchor to the plaza, built at the plaza's south side facing US 192. The Zayre building was demolished in the early 1990's after Ames, who purchased Zayre in 1988, pulled out of Florida in 1990 and vacated the building. The demolition of the former Zayre made room for the construction of the new Albertsons in 1993, with Albertsons' parking lot taking the place of the former Zayre building.

     A while back I happened to come across an old Kissimmee-area newspaper at an estate sale. After flipping though it, I came across an ad featuring a photograph of the original Town Corral Shopping Center as it looked in 1971. The photograph gives us a nice overview of the entire shopping center pre-Zayre, as the photographer would have been standing where the Zayre building was later constructed to take this photo. All 3 of the center's original anchors are visible above, with Publix's distinctive Wing facade standing out from the rest of the building.

     For completeness, here's the rest of the ad the photograph came from, which lists the name of the plaza's other tenants at the time, in addition to TG&Y, Publix, and Eckerd. Town Corral was never a large shopping center, but it had a fairly well-rounded collection of tenants in its early days.

      That same newspaper also contained the Publix ad above, listing all the specials one could find at the Town Corral Publix on the week of October 1, 1971. The Town Corral Publix was Kissimmee's first Publix store, and the town's only namesake Publix until the opening of store #228 at Mill Creek Mall in 1980. However, prior to the opening of store #228 on Kissimmee's eastern side, Publix had felt they'd outgrown the tiny Wing Store at Town Corral. After 11 years at Town Corral, Publix made the decision to move store #136 one mile to the west in 1978, relocating to a much larger building next door to Kissimmee's new Kmart. Following Publix's move, the company didn't abandon Town Corral completely - after a brief conversion period, Publix transformed their old space at Town Corral into one of the company's Food World stores in early 1979.

Photo courtesy of the Publix Archives

     I've mentioned Food World in passing a few times, and eventually I'll have a post on AFB with a more in-depth discussion into Food World at some point, but for now let me give everyone a brief explanation of the chain today. Launched in 1970, Food World was Publix's "discount" grocery concept. Discount banners were a popular new concept for supermarket chains in the 1970's, a time when other chains like Jewel (Jewel-T), Food Fair (Pantry Pride), and A&P (WEO) were experimenting with similar concepts due to the economic turmoil at the time. Food World began as a store a little more bare-bones than the typical Publix, featuring discounted prices, a blue color scheme, and did not issue trading stamps like the regular Publix stores of the time. Food World stores were rounded out by the brand's famous rotating globe that graced the exterior of all of Food World's stores. The photo above is of an unknown Food World location, but the famous globe can be seen rotating proudly over the facade.

     Kissimmee's Food World was one of the last few Food World stores to be opened by Publix with its 1979 opening date. The last new Food World opened in 1980, and the concept began its retirement in the mid-1980's. Publix also opened some interesting Food World prototypes in the late 1970's that were quite grandiose and not really something you would expect out of a discount format store, but I don't want to get too deep into the quirks of Food World today - I have another tour where that discussion will be much more appropriate!

     Kissimmee's Food World store, location #721, operated for 6 years until it was converted back into a regular Publix on March 23, 1985, the same day the 6 other remaining Orlando-area Food World stores converted back to the parent brand. The reborn Town Corral Publix, the original store #282, lasted until May 17, 1989. The following day, store #378 at South John Young Parkway and Pleasant Hill Road opened to replace #282. With its close proximity right between the relocated #136 and #228 at Mill Creek Mall, the late 1980's incarnation of the Town Corral Publix was a bit redundant (in addition to being in a small and outdated building), so I'm not surprised Publix chose to relocate this location 3 miles to the south to a part of town without a Publix of its own. Much like this location, the other 6 of the converted Orlando-area Food World stores didn't last very long, and were gone by the turn of the 1990's (either closing outright or being replaced by a modern Publix nearby).

*Thanks to the Sing Oil Blogger and duckman66 for clarification on the history of store #282 above

     The turn of the 1990's was a rough period for Town Corral, with the closure of Publix, TG&Y, and Ames all happening within close succession. The arrival of Albertsons in 1993 brought a little bit of life back to the shopping center, with the construction of the Albertsons completely transforming the southern end of Town Corral where the vacant Zayre and TG&Y stores were located. While the old Zayre and the majority of the TG&Y building were demolished to make room for the new Albertsons, the old Publix and Eckerd spaces survive to this day. Today, the former Publix is divided between Once Upon A Child, Dollar General, and Chamberlin's Natural Foods, with an Aaron's Rent-to-Own store occupying the former Eckerd.

    The last two photos show the former Publix space as it looked in 2015 and 2023. In the time between me taking those two photos, Chamberlin's and Dollar General updated their logos, and Once Upon A Child took over the former La Familia Pawn Shop.

     Stepping onto the plaza's front walkway, we see Publix's original windows and marble trim still survive today. I noticed these original remnants hanging around during my original visit to Town Corral in 2015, but it took me until early 2023 to investigate this building further...

     …and by investigate further, I was specifically intrigued by the Dollar General space. I'm not super sure about the lineage of this building's tenants between Publix's 1989 closure and the early 2000's, but I do know Dollar General opened in this space in April 2001, 12 years following Publix's departure. There's a chance this space, the former center slice of the Publix building, sat empty between Publix's closure and Dollar General's opening, because...

    ...it still feels a lot like Publix in here! While the Once Upon a Child and Chamberlain's spaces were pretty well rebuilt, Dollar General didn't to much to their sliver of the old Publix building. The original 1960's Wing Store striped terrazzo still shines strong in here to this day, contrasting quite a bit with Dollar General's bright yellow walls.

     The terrazzo surviving is one thing (and pretty easy for any new tenant to preserve), but even better yet is the store's back wall - it still features some of Publix's original wall texturing 34 years later! Being the middle slice of the old Publix, the back wall was the only portion where any of Publix's original decor would have survived (as the front wall is all windows) - wouldn't it have been interesting if Dollar General had taken either the left or right sides of the building after seeing this? Publix (and Food World's) meat department would have been back here, that linked photo showing what this store would have looked like back in its early Wing Store days. Most likely the meat coolers or a service counter would have been located in the area where the terrazzo switches to the white vinyl, and the paneling above was probably some kind of remnant from Food World's decor (as I doubt the 1985 rebrand was super thorough outside of some new paint and hanging signs).

     Seeing the original terrazzo exposed was exciting enough for me, but the paneling on the back wall was a fun bonus! I wish I had thought to pop into this Dollar General during my original visit, but better late than never I suppose. Unfortunately, in true Dollar General style, the back aisle of the store was jam-packed with pallets of merchandise waiting to be put out that I couldn't navigate around, so I wasn't able to see much more of what was back there while I was in here. Oh well, at least we have the original Wing Store terrazzo to entertain us through the rest of the store!

     With the publication of this post coinciding with the post-Christmas clearance shopping season, I guess it's fitting to display some of this store's clearance merchandise left over from the 2022 season. I visited this store well into January too, so the Christmas clearance that was left had been sitting around for a little while by this point too. I'm not surprised Twinkie-flavored candy canes were sitting around that long though - those just seem weird!

     This Dollar General isn't very wide, but it goes back pretty far. The entire store was 5-6 aisles wide, but each aisle was broken into 3 segments, with two sets of center dividing aisles in the store.

     Here's a look down the store's left side wall, with Chamberlin's Natural Foods on the other side of that partition. Chamberlin's tiled over the original Publix terrazzo in their sliver of the former Publix building, with Once Upon a Child opting for faux wood flooring to cover the old terrazzo in their portion.

     Our final interior photo showcases the change in direction of the terrazzo stripes, which would happen in the center of the salesfloor in these older Publix stores. Dollar General's shelving blocks most of the transition, although the V-shaped change in direction did pop out through one of the center cut-through aisles.

     Since the original Publix relocated to a new building in 1978 after only 11 years here, this store was never expanded, with Food World and the 2nd incarnation of Publix all occupying the original approx. 25,000 square foot Wing Store space. While the size of the building hasn't changed, the facade certainly has, although I'm not sure when the building's facade was redone to bring it to its current look. The current facade may have been added as part of a remodel that coincided with the construction of the new Albertsons store in 1993, after Publix closed, but I'm not sure if that was the case or if Food World/Publix Part 2 was responsible for the new facade.

     To complete our look at the remaining relics of retail past here at Town Corral, here's a look at the center's former Eckerd store. Eckerd remained at Town Corral until 1999, when the company constructed a new freestanding store across the street. Aaron's Rent to Own currently occupies the former Eckerd space at Town Corral, with Eckerd's oval still lingering behind Aaron's logo in my 2015 photo. Unfortunately, Aaron's updated the facade recently, which resulted in the loss of the oval.

     With this short look at the rest of the Town Corral Shopping Center, I'm glad to have tied up my few remaining loose ends at this shopping center. I know my posting to MFR is sporadic at best, as I tend to put most of my efforts into writing posts for AFB to keep that schedule on track, but I just wanted to remind everyone that I haven't forgotten about this blog! I have plenty for to write for MFR in the future, it's just a matter of me finding the time to do just that between AFB posts. Anyway, AFB will return in the new year on January 21st, and hopefully you'll be seeing more from me here on MFR before long!

Anyway, I wish everyone a Happy New Year, and until the next post,

AFB

Harveys #1667 - Gray, GA

Harveys #1667

Gray Station

208 West Clinton Street

Gray, GA 31032

Former Harveys #2409 / Food Lion #1215

Rather than looking at another Evergray Publix today, we are instead going further down the Southeastern Grocers rabbit hole to visit the small town of Gray, GA.  Located smack dab in the middle of the state, the Jones County seat may not be the first destination that comes to mind for tourists, but the town offers attractions such as an 1850's cotton plantation, several scenic nature trails, and plenty of Civil War memorials.  Just across the Ocmulgee River to the west, one can also take in the sights of Macon, GA, in Bibb County or Juliette, GA, in Monroe County where the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" was filmed.

While attempting to preserve as much information on pre-Aldi Southeastern Grocers as I can, I recently captured a snapshot of information on the present state of Winn-Dixie & Harveys. There are currently a total of 394 stores, including 369 under The Beef People banner and 25 bearing the Harveys name.  Out of those locations, Southeastern Grocers still operated 227 pharmacies in August before it was announced that SEG would offload all pharmacy assets to CVS and Walgreens by the end of the year.  I know this metric shocked both me and AFB, as we expected there to be fewer than 58% of stores still running a pharmacy following the 2016 purge.  What is also surprising is how SEG claims that the current pharmacy eradication has nothing to do with the pending Aldi sale—if you say so!  On another front, I'm also curious as to what Aldi will do with the 170 "Wiquor" stores, but I suppose that's a topic for another day.

Thankfully for Gray, this Harveys operates neither a pharmacy nor a liquor store, so the town has nothing to lose in that regard!  We may not know what the future holds for this Harveys, but that can't stop us from taking a look at its past.

Google Earth - Future Food Lion #1215 - February 22, 1993

My guess is that the Food Lion which originally occupied this space, #1215, opened in 1993 based on the satellite imagery above and on the store number itself.  Unfortunately, I can't seem to find anything mentioning this location in The Macon Telegraph before 1999, which also lists this store's address as being 613 New Clinton Street rather than 208 West Clinton.

This Food Lion disappeared from the Macon newspapers by 2003, and the 32,000 sq ft building seemed to have closed sometime around then and sat vacant for a number of years. 

The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - October 24, 2009 - Construction progress at Harveys #2405 in Macon, GA

Around 2007, Food Lion began to show a renewed interest in Harveys by rolling out a brand new interior package and constructing some of the first ground-up Harveys stores seen in years (if not decades).  This progress may not have come at a blazing speed, but Delhaize managed to open or convert at least seven stores by late-2009, all of which sported the décor package we will examine today.  Pictured above are some rare conversion pictures from former store #2405 in East Macon which opened roughly two years before the store in Gray.

Courtesy Charles Burgess Jr (Flickr) - Harveys #2409 - June 22, 2013

Based on Quitman's #2408 opening in 2011 and Camilla's #2411 opening either in 2011 or 2012, I'm inclined to say Delhaize finally gave up on trying to sublet the old supermarket space in Gray and decided to give it a shot as a Harveys around that time; this just seems a bit odd considering Food Lion announced it would close 29 stores in Georgia in early 2012.  Regardless, Delhaize's last new Harveys store opened on February 29, 2012, before the brand and its 72 outlets were sold to BI-LO Holdings (now Southeastern Grocers) in 2013.

I'd also like to take a moment and thank Flickr user Charles Burgess Jr for the work he did over 10 years ago to preserve a record of so many Harveys stores.  You've probably seen me reference his photos before, but I believe he documented every operational store in the chain at the time the BI-LO acquisition was announced.  In addition to having clear photographs of some of these long-closed stores, he also lists the Delhaize store numbers in his descriptions, which provides a key piece of information for determining original opening dates, etc.  Without work like his, it would be much more difficult for me to perform the research that I do.

While this store has been on my list to visit for quite some time, it was one sunny Sunday when I finally took the time to detour over to Gray after visiting a friend.  This trip also came on the heels of Harveys' pending acquisition by Aldi which likely provided that much more motivation to go out of my way considering how this location's future is now up in the air. 

Just as I was pulling into the parking lot, I felt a buzz on my leg from a familiar friend looking to catch up.

It was none other than Retail Retell, asking if I was awake by 2 PM (he should know better by now)!  I asked if he could give me a few minutes since I was sitting in my car about to head into this very supermarket.  As expected, he seemed to crack up at the remark and wish me luck.  Part of me wonders what my life has come to, but the other part just thinks it's hilarious! 

Even though the decade-plus old sign on the front of this store is a bit faded, I still love how classy the 3D lettering of the logo looks when set off by the grid pattern on the stucco.  

Courtesy Laura Gillespie (Google Maps) - January 21, 2017

What is even cooler is the nighttime perspective of this sign; rather than using a standard backlit sign, Delhaize opted for the softer look of wash lighting to shine down on the logo.  The fact that SEG decided to mostly kill off this look still perplexes me, but at least it got a second chance here!

Former Harveys logo (Delhaize era) recreation by The Sing Oil Blogger

I couldn't resist trying my hand at recreating this logo after I identified the fonts Delhaize used for the design and the corresponding interior package.  I'll also note that SEG adapted its own version of this logo by swapping the font used for "supermarket" to a subtly different one that was then carried over to the modern Foco logo.

The store itself may still use the Delhaize Jimbo logo, but the buggies out front all seem to sport the Foco font and are the same models we see in Winn-Dixie (except for the awkwardly short one off to the right which happened to be the one I grabbed).

Turning around toward the vestibule, it appears that Delhaize extended the doors outward to enlarge the space at some point.  I'd guess they were originally in line with the brick columns and were moved at the same time this store's interior set of doors was removed.

Ahh, the Produce department looks just like Delhaize intended for it to!  This is one of two active Harveys stores to still use the circa 2007 "Southern Farmstand" package, and I have to say I like it much better than the hideous Yellow Down Down interior from 2016 which adorns the remaining 23 outlets.

Unlike the former Camilla store we toured several months back, the Gray Harveys still has its agricultural stenciling on the walls in addition to the complimentary signage and flooring.  This also happens to be the exact location this produce department would be if the store were still a Food Lion.

Something else I remember seeing in Camilla (or was it Ocilla: oh well) was this "Buy Local" sign.  While it doesn't have any explicit Harveys branding, it absolutely uses the Harveys shade of yellow and the SEG Foco font which leaves me a bit surprised that nobody bothered to remove it from the aforementioned store.  That also goes to show how the one we see today is five years old, at a minimum, since the other store I saw it in closed back in 2018.

This balloon, however, is likely a bit newer.  Several of these were placed throughout the store in order to draw one's attention to various sales, and it seems they aptly do the job.

Just for Anonymous in Houston, I took my obligatory photo of the banana display; you happy now?

Jokes aside, 69¢/lb. seems to roughly fall in line with what I see at most stores around Georgia.  It's also refreshing to see that none of these bananas are overripe!

I can't figure out why seemingly every Harveys I've been to, both current and former, has an articulate display of artificial flowers over the produce coolers; this store was no exception.  Do people actually buy these, or are they more used as part of the décor?

The bouquets give a brief pause for the salad toppings before resuming just to my left.

But wait, there's more!  Just to the right in my terribly blurry photo above, Harveys had a small display case of . . . wait for it . . . real flowers before closing out the produce department with yet another fixture of the fake stuff.

We then find ourselves graced by the "Wall of Values" before entering the frozen foods department.  Other than in a 1990's Food Lion, I can't think of another supermarket layout which places frozen items adjacent to produce like this, especially when dairy is on the opposite side of the store.  It just seems so iceolated.

The layout may be 30-years old, but it looks like Delhaize at least installed new freezers when it retrofitted this store into a Harveys.

The next décor pieces I'd like to point out are the round "Highest Quality" signs which frame either side of the major department signs.  While these were absent from the Camilla store (obviously, since they have the Harveys logo on them), at least I still managed to photograph some of them in action here in Gray.  I do, however, wonder how a TV dinner tray can be described as the "highest quality frozen foods"!

Turning down the rear of the store, the flooring transition is our cue that we are now in a new department. 

We can also see how "Lunch Meats" is the only department in the store to have received the barn door accent which was also used with "Quality Meats" in Camilla.

Aisle 2 offers more frozen vegetables, along with plenty of "salad sauce".  Does anybody else think that display of ranch dressing looks to be stacked a bit precariously?

This week's salad dressing feature is Kraft Catalina.  I'm not exactly sure why I took this picture, but I may have been intending to show the three different types of "sale" tags in this store.  The part that really trips me up is how the Kraft dressing is on sale for $1 off, but the sale doesn't end until December 31st.  Meanwhile, the "Low Low" and "BOGO" prices both expired at the end of the week of my visit.  Part of me is really convinced that SEG's pricing structure is just a big sham, but feel free to provide evidence to the contrary!

Let's pause for a minute and relish at how nice this advertisement for Harveys' online shopping service is.  Probably the best part is how this ad doesn't feature an inch of the hideous Harveys yellow!

Meanwhile, canned goods can be found on what was presumably aisle 3.  For just being the house brand of chains like Winn-Dixie and Harveys, I think the packaging designers did a good job with the look for the cans we see here.  It's a shame that these will likely be phased out over the coming months.

One thing I wouldn't be sad to see quietly disappear is this BOGO bin design.  If you don't think these displays are insecure about the amount of attention you grant them (or either the designers are insecure about their popularity in high school), then I don't know what you are smoking.

Aisle four features an assortment of pasta and other exotic international foods.

While this display back up front only wishes it was so lucky.  It was only blessed with a few meager jumbo cookies, a lonely slice of cake, and a rejected pack of gum.  At least the blueberry pies have some companions.

Isn't it a shame that baby formula has to be locked up in a case next to the customer service counter?

Save money more, live better Feel healthy.  That's the power of Harveys.  

It's particularly interesting how this store still has the original category markers in select places, which we can see on full display on aisle seven.

Back in the meat department, a giant graphic of a butcher knife and red cooler bearing the word "sale" welcomes us into this part of the store:  how comforting.

I also just realized this, but Harveys will potentially celebrate its centennial before Winn-Dixie will—that is, if the company isn't killed off before then.  I wonder if anybody at corporate has a celebration in mind for a few months from now.  The company has been "Trading since 1924", after all.

L-ate-r on, I took some photos of the hot and dry cereal aisle, while continuing to zig-zag my way through this former Food Lion.

Tell me why somebody would be so lazy as to leave a case of water just sitting on the floor here!  This also makes me wonder: are there any Down Down Harveys stores out there which still feature the Southern Farmstand flooring?  I know some stores (like the Old Dawson Rd location in Albany) had both packages, but then again, SEG never bothered to take out the original Rose & Teal Marketplace tiles there!

Back up front, we see the deli and bakery come into view.  Remind you of Food Lion much?

Regardless, the biggest complaint I have about this department is how the ceiling overhang totally blocks your view of the signage if you are within 15 feet; then, if you are any further, a dadgum shelf gets in the way!  I can't win for losing!

At least I was able to get a (mostly) unobstructed shot of the "Quality Meats" sign from the peanut gallery.

I also got a nice angle of this package's "Restrooms" sign.  Why do I have a feeling that the paneling lining that hallway may date back to 1993?

I honestly don't know the answer to that question, but I do know this is exactly where Food Lion originally placed its bathrooms.  I also know this is where Delhaize decided to transition its flooring pattern to that of the dairy department.

Over on aisle 12, we find all of the supplies needed for a backyard barbecue including cold beer, chardonnay mixers, charcoal, and . . .

. . . the wood chunks that we all Know & Love. AFB first spotted these guys in his local Winn-Dixie several weeks ago, but since then, the retail community has been totally confused as to why SEG would launch its new house brand with wood chips and why we have yet to see any other products with the new packaging.  Needless to say, every SEG store I've been to since then has proudly displayed an assortment of combustible lovable trees just above the charcoal briquettes.  "Know that they burn, love that they're natural."

Hey look, they're even on sale!

What's fresher than some dead trees?  Some prepackaged bakery products, of course!  Harveys has never in my memory boasted an extensive selection of bakery goods, but I do always remember them doing a decent amount of hot food business.  Unfortunately, neither niche seemed to be thriving here in Gray.

Finally, aisle 13 hosts an assortment of ice cream and other dairy items.  As to why somebody thought it was best to place the ice cream department signage over lemonade, tea, and eggs beats me.

I'm also stumped as to why frozen desserts are on this side of the store rather than with the balance of frozen foods on aisles one & two.  Have any of you ever seen a setup like this?  I guess Food Lion wanted all of the "indulgences" to be on one side of the store?

I suppose other than the fact that milk and ice cream have to be stored at two different temperatures, it makes sense for both to be in the "dairy" department.

What in the world are "custom desserts"?

Why is the cheese shelf crooked?

I guess even though this is one of the nicest looking Harveys I've seen, it still has to be a bit rachet.

Looking back over the front end of this store, I have to applaud Delhaize for the amount of work it put into these later Harveys stores.  The fact that it looks like the company completely replaced the dropped ceiling, and installed new flooring, wall finishes, & fixtures, it is a shame to see what BI-LO Holdings / SEG ended up doing with the chain.

Thnk you for shopping Harveys

We can see here the checkout lights that I typically associate with this package, but it seems like BI-LO Holdings may have cooked up its own design for the rare occasion when the company installed Southern Farmstand.  Since the same cubes I linked to above were also present in Americus, I'm inclined to say that store in fact remodeled from Winn-Dixie's Post Bankruptcy package to Southern Farmstand before finally settling on Yellow Down Down.  Part of the fun of me writing this blog is how I can even make connections I've never realized before (while also reminiscing on how bizarre it is for Americus to have received the first ever Transformational Winn-Dixie prototype—solely because a tornado devastated the town).

If you couldn't tell before, this is hands down my favorite Harveys package.  I'm especially glad that I've had the chance to experience and photograph it before it was entirely extinct under its original banner.  Regardless, I'd imagine that Southern Farmstand still has plenty of life left in it with the various South Georgia independents . . .

That's all I have for the Harveys, but I managed to also stop by the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park while I was in the Macon area.  Standing atop the Great Temple Mound Complex, we have this nice view of the expansive Macon skyline.

You may remember me mentioning earlier how Retail Retell wanted to catch up, well, I had plenty of time to do just that as I meandered through the park and took in the sights.  Despite giving me a hard time as if I were still asleep, he was the one who was just then eating breakfast!

I was especially impressed by the Earth Lodge once I stepped inside, as I wasn't expecting such a vast interior space based on what I saw outside.  

It's amazing what can be housed inside of a hill, and how much relief one can find from the Middle Georgia heat once underground!  If you want to learn more about this 1,000+ year old Native American site, make sure to check out the Wikipedia page, or better yet, visit it for yourself!  It's right off I-16 (across the Ocmulgee River from downtown Macon) and admission is free!  

Another interesting tidbit is how there is now an effort underway to transition the area surrounding the Ocmulgee Mounds into Georgia's first National Park.

Our parting shot from the Macon Metro is one of the new electric vehicle charging station Circle K installed at the former Flash Foods on Bass Road / I-75. This caught my attention because I've never seen a convenience store branded EV charger like this, and especially didn't expect to find one in Macon (even seeing one in Macon, I would have expected it to be built along the much busier I-475 to the West).  The Sing Oil Sidekick mentioned that he heard Circle K has plans to install these in California but was also surprised that I managed to come across one in The Peach State.  Who knows, The Sing Oil Blog may have to transition to The Sing Electric Blog before long!

That's it for today's coverage, but make sure to check back in a couple of weeks to see what new adventures I've gotten myself into.

Until then,

- The Sing Oil Blogger