Bible Belt

The Ten Commandments
on a large sign on the public square
in Pensacola

Stained glass in Old Christ Church,
oldest Episcopal Church in Florida

In most of the Southern towns that I’ve visited in the past two weeks, the largest structure in town is the First Baptist Church.  If not Baptist, it is Pentecostal, New Life Ministries, or another of the non-denominational offshoots.  The churches are not often ornate, but they are very often big.  Sometimes I know the town’s population and wonder if all of them might easily fit into its single largest church.  They call this part of the country the Bible.

Also in Pensacola's old city center is this large obelisk dedicated to Stephen Mallory, Secretary of the Confederate Navy.  I don’t know what he means in that immortal quote, but maybe he means “Tis not in mortals to command success; but we’ll do more than Semonius, we’ll deserve it” Sempronius Densus was a centurion in the Praetorian Guard in the 1st century.  He is remembered for his courage and loyalty in defending his charge from scores of armed assassins, while all his comrades deserted.  At best, Mallory seems arrogant, at worst he says his men will die in a futile cause and will deserve success. 

Another equally prominent obelisk is dedicated to William Chipley, a railroad tycoon who became mayor of Pensacola and then served in the Florida State Senate.  

I doubt if either of these honored citizens worked any harder or were any more skilled at what they did than Molly at the Coffee Cup Restaurant on Cervantes Street.  But rather than a monument to her, we both agreed that a giant statue of this friendly fellow would serve the world and humanity better than either of the two great Pensacola obelisks.  

Will anyone admit to having bought gasoline
for 25 cents a gallon at one of these

An old section of Pensacola has been preserved the way it was a hundred years ago.