Return to Angier, crepe myrtles et al

A little more than a year ago, I made a brief stop to grab lunch in the town of Angier in Harnett County en route to a visit to Gregory Vineyards to the east at McGee Crossroads.

I made a mental note to return to Angier so I could devote more time to do one of my community photographic profiles, and that return occurred in the afternoon of July 2 after spent the morning in Fuquay-Varina (see previous three posts).

Angier promotes itself as the crepe myrtle town. The crepe myrtle is a flowering tree or shrub, native to India, that thrives in warm climates.I first became acquainted with the crepe myrtle when I moved to North Carolina two years ago ... and saw beautiful flowering trees sprinkled throughout the Triangle area landscape -- including, I discovered several months after moving in, on my own property!

They reminded me of the gorgeous azaleas I came across in Savannah and Charleston a few years ago on my first visits to those tourist-popular destinations. The difference is that azaleas bloom in spring and last only a couple weeks; crepe myrtles bloom in summer and last the whole summer.

My timing to revisit Angier -- especially if I wanted to record evidence of the crepe myrtles -- turned
out to be impeccable. The blooms on the crepe myrtle in my back yard had just started to show on July 2, and you can see in the photo leading off the post, there are in good form in Angier. That photo was taken looking at the perimeter of one of the town's municipal parking lots, and there are additional red crepe myrtles lining another parking lot just up the block from here along the Centennial Trail at Charles Nordan Square (right).

The revisit also game me an opportunity to more closely explore Jack Marley Park, which I'd seen from a distance last year as Lee Ann and I drove out of town headed to the winery.

My endeavor to photograph churches in the communities I visit netted me Iglesia Amistad Cristiano, a congregation in the downtown area. I didn't learn until getting home later that other churches near Angier are located on the outskirts of town.

One of the more interesting "finds" during my stroll through the Angier downtown area was the sign above, which was outside the Red Barn restaurant, not far from Jack Marley Park. I chuckled, wondering what "Cowboy Church" might entail. Anybody know? Two other views of the restaurant appear below -- the first is a perspective shot of where the sign appears in relation to the eatery. The second is a more aesthetic view of the restaurant, which I grabbed while walking back to downtown after a short stroll in the park. There is a small cemetery immediately to the left of this photo. I'll post a few pictures of it farther below.

As always, to view a larger and sharper version of an image, just click on the photo. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog on a mobile device. To view a full gallery of photos from my July 2 shoot in Angier, click on the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: I used my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens for all the photos in this post. The lens was equipped with a B+W polarizing filter. I bracketed all of my compositions for three exposures -- one normal, and one each in 2/3 stops above and below normal. I used the shutter speed as my primary exposure setting variable, with the f/stop usually at 8.0 and ISO mostly at 100 (I adjusted the ISO when decreased natural lighting required me to do so). I merged the three images into one using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HDR) software.

Above and next eight below: Various looks at the Angier downtown, including Ed's Family Restaurant (fourth below), which struck me as a key gathering place in the original downtown commerce district. 

Above is the local Masonic Lodge. I don't know why the truck pictured below tickled my fancy, but it did at the time. It was parked behind the meat market pictured above. 

Above and below: Iglesia Amistad Cristiana (Christian Friendship Church), the church I mentioned in the introductory text. Church services are 11 a.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The fountain above is a focal point of Jack Marley Park, where there were visitors lolling by the shore when I arrived (below).

Above: This 19th century former school, off to the right of the access drive as you enter the park, is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

A ground-level study of a fence (above) separating the park from an adjacent, apparently unnamed cemetery (next three photos below).