Realtor Charlotte Terry, left, and Nancy Hopwood, a former New York City schoolteacher, are the women behind the Cracker Tales oral history project, which aims to preserve the memories of Indian River County’s past on film.
Florida is virtually defined by shoreline and sunshine, but that is not what gives its inhabitants a sense of place. To belong is to be part of a collective memory—to know what happened during yesteryears on your street, in your neighborhood, in your town. It’s what keeps the minutia of history so irresistibly relevant.
Some people converse over such matters because, as a matter of age, they were there. Now, their stories are being captured on film by two women, Nancy Hopwood and Charlotte Terry, who are themselves products of Sunshine State pioneers.
Nancy was raised in Pittsburgh, but wintered at her grandfather’s Vero Beach house, which he had bought it in 1935. She moved here full-time in 2002. Charlotte, who owns a local real-estate company, is a fourth-generation Floridian whose grandfather settled in Micanopy after the Civil War. She moved with her family to Vero Beach in 1966.
Read the entire article in the Summer 2006 issue
True Tails is a series written by Amy Robinson for Vero Beach’s dog lovers. Ask Amy about your dog’s behavior by clicking below.
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