When I was a little girl, living in New York City, my mother and I traveled frequently to Florida via the Seaboard Coastline. Our destination was always Jacksonville and the old terminal station was a grand one, where the trains backed in. I remember always taking coach and sitting in the Lounge Car with my mom, playing gin rummy and the porters bringing me sliced turkey sandwiches.
Today, I live in North Carolina but still travel via train to Jacksonville where mom still lives. I don't get turkey sandwiches anymore (my diet has changed, so I bring my own) but the highlight of my trips today are awakening at dusk as the Silver Star travels through the Okefenokee Swamp — the mist on the water, the gators on the shore, the birds on the move. Its romantic and its nostalgic.
Traveling to Florida Then and Now
Trips Full of Romance and Nostalgia
by Anthea Darling
Hillsborough, North Carolina
When I was a little girl, living in New York City, my mother and I traveled frequently to Florida via the Seaboard Coastline. Our destination was always Jacksonville and the old terminal station was a grand one, where the trains backed in. I remember always taking coach and sitting in the Lounge Car with my mom, playing gin rummy and the porters bringing me sliced turkey sandwiches.
Today, I live in North Carolina but still travel via train to Jacksonville where mom still lives. I don't get turkey sandwiches anymore (my diet has changed, so I bring my own) but the highlight of my trips today are awakening at dusk as the Silver Star travels through the Okefenokee Swamp — the mist on the water, the gators on the shore, the birds on the move. Its romantic and its nostalgic.
I love to travel by train.