Several interesting bits of information and history today.

We traveled to a very small town nearby, in order to see murals that were painted on some of its buildings.

First surprise: the town, Palatka, is known as “The Gem City on the St Johns River.” Since we hail from Dayton, Ohio, that sure rang a bell, since Dayton is known as “The Gem City.”

Second tidbit: the St Johns River is apparently one of few rivers in the world that flow north.

Last tidbit: the town features a mural of Billy Graham, and claims he was baptized nearby in Silver Lake and preached his first formal sermon in a local Baptist Church.

I found the following description of that sermon in an excerpt of Billy Graham’s autobiography that was online: “When the moment came to walk to the pulpit in the tiny Bostwick Baptist Church, my knees shook and perspiration glistened on my hands. I launched into sermon number one. It seemed to be over almost as soon as I got started, so I added number two. And number three. And eventually number four. Then I sat down. Eight minutes – that was all it took to preach all four of my sermons!”