Fred Lynch retired in 2018 after capturing images for the Southeast Missourian since 1975, in that time moving from black-and-white to color, from film to digital and to video. The blog title is a nod to an earlier era of news photography and the 4x5 Speed Graphic: It's more important to be there for the shot than to worry about technical details.

Trail of Tears State Park

Posted Wednesday, January 5, 2011, at 7:30 AM

This early photo of Trail of Tears State Park was taken for the April 22, 1960 edition of the Southeast Missourian by G.D. Fronabarger. It shows a gravel Moccasin Springs Road leading toward the Mississippi River.

Here is the caption:

Rail fence, newly constructed in Trail of Tears Park north of Cape, adds a rustic note. This is in a recreation area, near an old homestead, and adjacent to the rail lines of the Frisco.

June 29, 1960 Southeast Missourian:

Slow Driving Needed in Park

Clarence Schilling, superintendent of Trail of Tears State Park, urged today that visitors using the facilities observe the 20-mile-per-hour speed limit on roads. He pointed out they are dusty and with campers and picnickers present, speeding creates a nuisance. Within the speed limit the dust is not so heavy, he noted. Mr. Schilling said blacktopping of the Moccasin Springs Road is planned for this year.

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This'n made my heart flip a little: It's the EXACT-spot that my-family always claimed to be "ours"! You could park right-up there on that graveled-spot, still well-away from the grassy-area. And, it was all I could do, to sit-still, waiting for the next-train!

Unfortunately, today this area seems so cold, and uninviting, anymore. That big-ol' "picnic-tree", and the barn behind it, are no longer. All I see now are signs, full of regulations.

Signs that I didn't NEED "back-then", 'cause I had a GRANDMA, with a hook-top walking-cane...!☺

-- Posted by donknome-2 on Wed, Jan 5, 2011, at 10:38 AM
My mother grew up in Moccasin Springs and we visited there often before it became a state park. That homestead and barn had belonged to a family friend, Grover Galahaur(sp). There was a pear tree near the barn and we would go there to gather pears when I was a kid. Thank you for the nostalgic pics!

-- Posted by darlajune on Wed, Jan 5, 2011, at 11:42 AM
Took me a minute to orient myself on where in the park this would be today. The road now takes you to the RV camping loop and the "marina". Back in 1960, did this road just dead end back there? It's a shame it doesn't still look this serene anymore.

-- Posted by ol'homeboy on Wed, Jan 5, 2011, at 12:48 PM

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