Folks of Florence

Folks of Florence Folks of Florence is a documentary project that shares photos and stories of people in Florence, Al.

“This azalea was given to my husband by Wh**ey Ford. It’s called a Wh**ey’s Wonder. That was about twenty-five years ago...
04/05/2026

“This azalea was given to my husband by Wh**ey Ford. It’s called a Wh**ey’s Wonder. That was about twenty-five years ago. We were in the Master Gardeners, we were in the Wildflower Society, and he was in the men’s garden club. He just did that until he couldn’t do it anymore.”

The Folks of Florence project was the catalyst for a Ted Talk recently recorded in Florence about the power of talking t...
12/12/2024

The Folks of Florence project was the catalyst for a Ted Talk recently recorded in Florence about the power of talking to strangers! It is now live on YouTube, so check it out if you are interested, link in comments…

A sweet gesture in 7 Points showing love for the folks of Florence!
12/10/2024

A sweet gesture in 7 Points showing love for the folks of Florence!

One Table Florence + street portraits
11/08/2024

One Table Florence + street portraits

One Table Florence 2024 Image 1. “We stumbled upon this last year and thought it was a great event. Last year we had gon...
11/08/2024

One Table Florence 2024

Image 1. “We stumbled upon this last year and thought it was a great event. Last year we had gone to the rock and roll museum and we had come downtown to find a place to eat and we saw that this was a one a year event. Our timing was great last year, and we just decided to come back again this year. We are from Madison, Alabama.”

Spring gathering
06/02/2024

Spring gathering

“ So, we have a friend that introduce us (to Florence) she lives in Russellville. So she introduced us coming here. We’r...
05/22/2024

“ So, we have a friend that introduce us (to Florence) she lives in Russellville. So she introduced us coming here. We’re here for a summer, here for some medical stuff. So we decided to explore the town around this area for the summer. So far we have been here about two weeks. Our son says it’s the best world. I find it very convenient, so close to everything. It’s a really tranquil neighborhood. Right now the weather is fantastic. People are friendly, like you are.”

“I really love the city. So I trained jiu jitsu and there is a jujitsu gym, downtown. I would say I joined the gym right after and the people there welcome me immediately. So I feel home very much. It’s just very nice to travel literally halfway around the planet and then settle down with some new friends, you know without missing a beat. It’s small, but it has everything. There is a tiny saying, just imagine a small bird, the English name is escaping me. But even so, the point is, there’s a specific type of small bird but it still has all the organs that the eagle has. Right? So that’s what Florence feels to us. It’s smaller than New York, and Dubai, and London but it has everything for us, it has Jujitsu, YMCA, has everything for us. It has a music studio. So, my son and I are learning piano. So we’re able to continue that also without missing a beat.”

Folks of Florence enjoying the 2024 eclipse.
04/09/2024

Folks of Florence enjoying the 2024 eclipse.

Folks of Florence viewing the 2024 eclipse!
04/08/2024

Folks of Florence viewing the 2024 eclipse!

“I stopped on the side of the road one day and I found a rock like a piece of glass. So I just started digging a little ...
04/04/2024

“I stopped on the side of the road one day and I found a rock like a piece of glass. So I just started digging a little bit in the ground and I found like different colored blue, red, purple, green rock but it's kind of like glass rock. I've never seen nothing like it in my life. Yeah, man I asked people about it they said they'd never seen it and I found some found some Indian stuff with it too, little figures you know, they made for their kids. I found a few arrowheads you know. But, you know, I wasn’t on no TVA land, it was on the side of the road. I couldn't believe it, I guess it was a honey hole for them you know, they collected all that stuff. A lot of them had the shape of the faces were like Bigfoot and I looked it up and there was a chief Bigfoot that lived here in 1797. He got killed below O'Neill bridge by white settlers. They were the Sioux Indians. There were 3000 of them and the white people killed all of them except 330 something and they escaped up the mouth of Cypress Creek never be seen again.”

“I'm just killing time and looking for rocks and stuff, man. I look for unusual rocks. A lot of times you'll see like an...
04/02/2024

“I'm just killing time and looking for rocks and stuff, man. I look for unusual rocks. A lot of times you'll see like animal faces and stuff like that and I'll put them in my garden at home. Every once in a while I might run across the arrowhead, but I don't really look for them, but I'm just look for any kind of rock now. I just like collecting rocks i’m interested in. I’ve been doing it for about 18 years, yea, I’ve got a big collection. My whole garden is rocks. It’s kind of unusual because most people put bark and mulch and stuff like that in there. I collect rocks and put them in my garden. It's pretty cool.”

“I make quilts to give away. I've given away about 200 quilts in the 20 or so years, I've been quilting, and God shows m...
03/20/2024

“I make quilts to give away. I've given away about 200 quilts in the 20 or so years, I've been quilting, and God shows me who to give the quilts to. But I like sitting in the chair a lot. And so when I sit in a chair, I can quilt and sing to God, and pray, quilting is just a good pastime for 80 year old lady.”

So, do you make these with the machine?”

“Oh, no. Everything's by hand. Every once in a while the back seam you have to have two panels of material for the back seam and sometimes I sew that on the machine, but most everything I do is all by hand quilting. A full size quilt is two months if I don't have much interruptions. Since I've been here at Grace House, i've given away about seven quilts to the people here, people that are maybe home in bed or in a wheelchair or something like that, or just people that I like. Well, people are always grateful. But I like it the best when I see it being used, you know, that they've got it for their bed or in their chair covered up, you know?”

“How did you learn to quilt?”

“Well, I had fibromyalgia and 20 years later, the Lord healed me of fibromyalgia. But I couldn't do anything. I was stuck in an easy chair. And so I taught myself how to quilt. I don't use the quilting frame. I just pin it three layers on the bed and pull it up in my lap and keep one hand under it to keep it smooth and it works is all I can say.”

Address

Florence, AL
35630

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Folks of Florence posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Folks of Florence:

Shortcuts

Share

Category