merkil's Favorites

A violent storm coming in off the Gulf of Mexico, about to sweep over the amazingly beautiful coastal marshes and Cabbage Palms of the Crystal River Archæological State Park, with its incredible Pre-Columbian Burial and Temple Mounds. What a storied and dramatic landscape!

I photographed this with Kadachrome slide film, in 1990.

The Cabbage or Sable Palm is apparently one of the oldest of Palm types in the fossil record, appearing around 85 million years ago. That is before Dinosaurs became extinct. I can just imagine the majestic sight of a late Cretaceous Sauropod striding across this ancient landscape.

It is mind boggling to contemplate what some of our ancestors achieved here and engaged in at this cultural and ceremonial focal point more than two thousand years ago.

It was literally an awesome moment when, just as I approached an ancient standing stone stele with a human face carved into it, a heart shaking crash of thunder broke and rumbled across the marshes.
Magical.

These are some of the most beautiful native Cabbage Palm stands I have seen anywhere.