Florida Architect: Dwight James Baum

Perhaps you’ve never heard of Dwight James Baum. But I’d wager a bag of peanuts you’ve heard of the Ringling Brothers Circus. 

Five of the seven Ringling Brothers, known as the “Circus Kings,” began their rise to fame in 1870 with one traveling show. Over the following decades, they created an empire by expanding their own shows and acquiring others. They even purchased the Barnum and Bailey Circus for $400,000 in 1907.

What does that have to do with Dwight James Baum?

He was the renowned architect commissioned by John Nicholas Ringling and his wife, Mable, to design their mansion in Sarasota, Florida—the circus’s winter quarters.

Baum’s Bio

• June 24, 1886 ~ born in Little Falls, New York.
• 1909 ~ graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in architecture.
• 1912 ~ opened his own firm in the Bronx, New York area.
• 1923 ~ became the youngest architect to win a Gold Medal from the Architectural League of New York.
• 1931-32 ~ won for “best two-story house in the United States (1926-1930)”  from the American Institute of Architects (Bjorklund).
• December 14, 1939 ~ died in New York City.

Cà d'Zan

The estate, built by Owen Burns and completed in 1926, was named Cà d'Zan which is Venetian for “The House of John.”

Because John “turned every detail of its construction over to” his wife, (“a gift he gave freely”), the mansion is also known as “The House of Mable” (Moody). 

The Ringlings lost their wealth during the Great Depression, and John bequeathed his beloved Cà d'Zan to the state of Florida. After decades of neglect, the mansion was used as Miss Haversham’s broken-down manor in a 1998 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Today, after a lengthy restoration with a price tag of approximately $15 million, the estate is a museum and tourist attraction.

The mansion’s Venetian Gothic influence—such as the Gothic arches and terra cotta ornamentation—was inspired by a trip that John and Mable Ringling took to Venice. 

But that isn’t the only architectural style included in Baum’s design. Visitors will also note “Italian Renaissance, Moorish, and Spanish-inspired elements drawn from different historic periods” (Ca' d'Zan).

Country Life titled their October 1927 feature article on the fifty-six-room mansion as “A Venetian Palace in Florida” (Ca' d'Zan).

Baum’s Legacy

In addition to the Ringling mansion, Baum designed several civic buildings, including the Sarasota Times Building (1925) and the Sarasota County Courthouse (1926). During that same time period, he designed more than forty Mediterranean Revival style house in Temple Terrace, Florida.

Baum wasn’t only a renowned architect. His other pursuits involved historic preservation issues, photographing historic buildings, writing articles, working as a consulting architect for Good Housekeeping, and designing the magazine’s building exhibit for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. 

Fun Trivia Fact ~ Dwight Baum is a distant relative of L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz series.

Your Turn

Have you ever visited a historic home that left you speechless? What details or craftsmanship stood out most to you?

Ca’ d’Zan means “House of John.” If you could design a “House of You,” what name or theme would you choose?

One rare night. One risky mission. A second chance at love.

Johnnie Alexander writes award-winning stories of enduring love and quiet courage. Her historical and contemporary novels weave together unforgettable romance, compelling characters, and a touch of mystery. 

A sometime hermit and occasional vagabond who most often kicks off her shoes in Florida, Johnnie cherishes cozy family times and enjoys long road trips. 

Readers are invited to discover glimpses of grace and timeless truth in her stories. Connect with her at johnnie-alexander.com.

Photos

Ceiling Mural: By MarissaSarah99 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110780641

Entrance Foyer: By Daderot - Own work, Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66521179

Front Façade: By HMSyume - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156306739

Front Gate (Original Gateway to the Residence): By Upstateherd - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120444812

Springfield Daily Tribune scan: By Unknown author - The Springfield Daily Republican, Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=165190567

Sources

Bjorklund, Victoria Baum. “Dwight James Baum: The World’s Most Famous Architect from Little Falls.” Little Falls Historical Society. Accessed November 8, 2025. 

Ca' d'Zan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca%27_d%27Zan

Moody, Laura. “Sarasota's Ca' d'Zan is filled with architectural beauty, and a great love story.” Fox 13 Tampa Bay. Published February 27, 2019. https://www.fox13news.com/good-day-tampa-bay/sarasotas-ca-dzan-is-filled-with-architectural-beauty-and-a-great-love-story

https://littlefallshistoricalsociety.org/writing-series/dwight-james-baum-the-worlds-most-famous-architect-from-little-falls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_James_Baum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ringling

Florida’s Featured Author ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

“So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war,” President Abraham Lincoln said when he met Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

 

Or did he?

The first record of Lincoln’s greeting appears in Mrs. Stowe’s 1890 biography. Though her son, Charles Edward Stowe, tells the story as family lore, his closeness to the source gives it plenty of credibility.

 

Besides, many believe that Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet's classic novel, truly did light a spark within the abolitionist movement. 

 

Here are a few facts we know are true:

 

Harriet was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut to Roxanna Foote Beecher (1775-1816) and her husband, Reverend Lyman Beecher (1775-1863). 

 

She married Calvin Stowe, a professor of Biblical Literature at Lane Theological Seminary, on January 6, 1836. 

The Stowes had seven children, including twin daughters. Tragically, their son, Samuel Charles, died of cholera in 1849. He was only eighteen months old. 

She died on July 1, 1896—not even a month after her 85^th birthday.

Her Writing Opened Hearts

 

Her scholarly husband, Harriet once said, was “rich in Greek & Hebrew, Latin & Arabic, and alas! rich in nothing else” (HBSC).

 

However, even before she married and had a family, Harriet's writing provided an income. Her first publication, Primary Geography for Children, was published in 1833 when she was only twenty-two or twenty-three.

 

She wrote her most famous novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, about twenty years later. The National Era, an abolitionist paper, wanted a short story to run in installments “that would paint a word picture of slavery” (HBSC).

Instead of the planned three or four chapters, Harriet wrote a full-length novel that opened readers' hearts to the suffering of enslaved people. 

Three more abolitionist novels followed: The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853),

Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856), and The Minister’s Wooing (1859).

 

During her writing career, which spanned half a century, Harriet published thirty books plus numerous articles, essays, hymns, poetry, and short stories. Her influence through her writings is immeasurable. 

 

The Stowe Family’s Florida Connection

 

The Stowes lived many years in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later in Brunswick, Maine where they housed fugitive slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. 

 

After the Civil War, however, they became snowbirds and purchased property in Mandarin, Florida, on the St. Johns River. They wintered there for more than fifteen years and even bought an orange grove for their son, Frederick, to manage.

 

Charles Beecher, a minister and educator, opened a nearby school to educate formerly enslaved people, a cause which was dear to his sister’s heart.

 

Harriet expressed her appreciation for Florida’s unique beauty in her book, Palmetto Leaves(1873), where she compared the area’s semi-tropical climate to that of Italy. (Which surprises me ~ I’ve lived most of my adult life in Central Florida and I’ve visited Tuscany. To me, the climates are very different!)

 

The Beecher Family Tradition ~ A Legacy of Service

 

When it came to service and reform, the Beecher family didn’t sit quietly in the pews. 

 

Harriet’s older sister, Catharine, founded the Hartford Female Seminary which provided women the opportunity to study the classics, languages and mathematics. Harriet attended this school.

 

Isabella, Harriet’s youngest sister, helped to found the National Women’s Suffrage Association.

All of Harriet’s brothers were ministers.

Honors

• 1986 ~ Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame;
• 2007 ~ A 75¢ U.S. postage stamp was issued in her honor in the “Distinguished Americans” series;
• 2010 ~ The Ohio Historical Society nominated Mrs. Stowe as a finalist  for Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol, however, Thomas Edison was selected instead.

Your Turn ~ Uncle Tom's Cabin has been on my TBR (To Be Read) list since my son-in-law read a heart-rending chapter out loud to us a few years ago. I procrastinate because the novel seems so daunting. But I truly hope to read it when life slows down a bit. 

Have you read Uncle Tom's Cabin? If so, what did you think? If not, do you plan to? What other classics do you have on your TBR list?

Journey of the Heart

In the shadow of slavery, love answers with courage.

Stories of heart, mystery, and timeless truth.

Johnnie Alexander writes award-winning stories of enduring love and quiet courage. Her historical and contemporary novels weave together unforgettable romance, compelling characters, and a touch of mystery. A sometime hermit and occasional vagabond who most often kicks off her shoes in Florida, Johnnie cherishes cozy family times and enjoys long road trips. Readers are invited to discover glimpses of grace and timeless truth in her stories. Connect with her at johnnie-alexander.com.

Photos ~ Unless otherwise indicated, photos are in the public domain.

Bust of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Brenda Putnam at Hall of Fame for Great Americans. Photo by H0n0r at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17210647.

 

Sources

Gershon, Noel. Harriet Beecher Stowe: Biography. New York: Henry Holt and Co. (1976).

HBSC ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe Center (harrietbeecherstowecenter.org).

Hedrick, Joan D. Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life. Oxford University Press (1994).

Alexander Hamilton ~ Founding Father, Anonymous Author, Doomed Duelist

Note ~ The Florida Artists, Architects, and Authors Series will continue next month.

A FOUNDING FATHER

 

Though Alexander Hamilton is considered a Founding Father, he is one of four in that historic group who didn’t sign America’s Declaration of Independence from the British on July 4, 1776.

The other three are George Washington, James Madison, and John Jay. 

 

General Washington was too busy actually fighting for that independence. However, he read the newly-signed document to the Continental Army on July 9th. Alexander Hamilton was only 19 years old at the time.

Or maybe he was twenty-one. His birthday is January 11th, but historians disagree on whether he was born in 1755 or 1757.

Here are a few details historians accept as fact:

• Hamilton was born out-of-wedlock in the West Indies and orphaned in 1768. His father had abandoned the family before then.
• From 1777 to 1781, he served as George Washington's trusted aide-de-camp.
• He was an artillery officer in the American Revolutionary War and fought in the Siege of Yorktown (1781).
• After the war, he was a lawyer and founded the Bank of New York.
• As a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, he was involved in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.
• As the first Secretary of the Treasury, he served in President Washington's first cabinet.

 

AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

 

Along with all his many historical political achievements, Hamilton also bequeathed a tremendous literary legacy…many written under a pen name.

 

Let’s take a look at a few of his better-known works.

 

The Revolutionary Versus the Loyalist

 

In 1774, Loyalist Samuel Seabury, a Church of England clergyman, published pamphlets intended to scare the American colonists from rebelling against the king. He wrote under the pseudonym of A. W. Farmer, an abbreviation for A Westchester Farmer.

 

In response, Hamilton anonymously published A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress. Seabury published another pamphlet in response to Hamilton and then Hamilton responded with The Farmer Refuted.

 

Pen Name ~ Publius

In 1778, Hamilton signed three accusatory letters with the pseudonym Publius. The name came from a book titled Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. The original Publius Valerius, better known as Publicola or “friend of the people,” helped to found the ancient republic of Rome. 

The three letters accused Samuel Chase—who is a signer of the Declaration of Independence and, in 1787, represented Maryland in the Continental Congress—of using insider knowledge to benefit from the flour market.

The Reynolds Pamphlet

To defend his own integrity, Hamilton wrote a ninety-five-page pamphlet confessing to an affair he’d had during his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury. 

 

While not excusing Hamilton’s behavior, it’s widely believed Mrs. Reynolds and her husband conspired to set Hamilton up so they could blackmail him. 

 

In the pamphlet, published in 1797, Hamilton admitted he was guilty of adultery but vehemently insisted he was not guilty of corruption.

 

The Federalist Papers

Hamilton is most well-known for writing fifty-one of the eight-five installments of The Federalist Papers. The remaining essays and articles were written by James Madison and John Jay, but each one appeared under the pseudonym of Publius—the same pen name that Hamilton used for his letters attacking Samuel Chase.

Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote The Federalist Papers to encourage public support for the proposed U.S. Constitution. The vast majority of the essays were published between October 1787 and August 1788 in New York newspapers and sometimes reprinted in other states' newspapers.

 

The collected Federalist Papers
in one volume and
an advertisement for the book.

 

Poetry

 

Before embarking on his political writing career—remember that his first anonymous pamphlets were written in 1774—Hamilton wrote a few poems and a hymn that appeared in the Royal Danish American Gazette, a St. Croix (Virgin Islands) newspaper.

 

The first two published poems were printed with Hamilton’s query letter. He wrote:

 

“I am a youth about seventeen, and consequently such an attempt as this must be presumptuous; but if, upon perusal, you think the following piece worthy of a place in your paper, by inserting it you’ll much oblige Your obedient servant, A.H.”

 

Another poem, “The Melancholy Hour,” was published on October 11, 1772 under the pseudonym Juvenis.

 

“This brooding work,” writes Ron Chernow in his biography of Hamilton, “reprises the theme of the hurricane as heavenly retribution upon a fallen world.” He quotes the following two lines:

 

Why hangs this gloomy damp upon my mind 

Why heaves my bosom with the struggling sigh?

 

An unsigned four-stanza hymn, “The Soul Ascending Into Bliss,” appeared in the Gazette on October 17, 1772. Chernow calls this “a lovely, mystical meditation in which Hamilton envisions his soul soaring heavenward.”

 

Here’s an excerpt:

 

Hark! Hark! A voice from yonder sky

Methinks I hear my Savior cry…

I come oh Lord, I mount, I fly

On rapid wings I cleave the sky.”

 

The Gazette published another poem, “A Character” by A.H., on February 3, 1773.

 

“In this short, disillusioned work,” Chernow writes, “Hamilton evokes a sharp-witted fellow named Eugenio who manages inadvertently to antagonize all his friends.” 

 

Here are the final two lines of the poem: 

 

Wit not well govern’d rankles into vice

He to his Jest his friend he will sacrifice.

 

A DOOMED DUELIST

 

On July 11, 1804, Hamilton and Aaron Burr fought a duel. 

 

Though Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson held opposing political views, Hamilton supported Jefferson for the presidency over Burr who was considered to be power-hungry and unprincipled scoundrel by his contemporaries. 

Burr accused Hamilton of impugning his honor and challenged him to a duel after Hamilton refused to apologize for disparaging remarks he’d made.

 

Hamilton told his second that he would purposely miss Burr and may have expected his opponent to do the same. 

 

However, Burr aimed at Hamilton and wounded him. 

 

Hamilton died the next day.

 

Whether born in 1755 or 1757, he wasn’t yet 50 years old.

 

HONORING HAMILTON

 

“…he was first on the $5, then the $2, $20, $50, $500, $1000 (those larger denominations were only used to move money among banks or between banks and the Federal Reserve). Since the currency was redesigned and given a standard size in 1928, Hamilton has been on the $10” (Brian Phillips Murphy).

 

RE-IMAGINING HAMILTON

 

The highly-acclaimed Broadway production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton was nominated for 16 Tony Awards and won 11 including Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations. The script was based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton.

 

Your Turn ~ Which of Hamilton’s writings impress you the most?

Johnnie Alexander writes award-winning stories of enduring love and quiet courage. Her historical and contemporary novels weave together unforgettable romance, compelling characters, and a touch of mystery. A sometime hermit and occasional vagabond who most often kicks off her shoes in Florida, Johnnie cherishes cozy family times and enjoys long road trips. Readers are invited to discover glimpses of grace and timeless truth in her stories. Connect with her at johnnie-alexander.com.

 

Sources

 

Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Press (2004). https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/38/mode/2up. (Accessed on June 29, 2025.)

 

Murphy, Brian Phillips. “Alexander Hamilton on the $10 Bill: How He Got There and Why It Matters.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/alexander-hamilton-10-bill-how-he-got-there-and-why-it-matters (Accessed on June 30, 2025.)

 

https://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2017/09/a-look-at-alexander-hamiltons-saucy-religious-sentimental-poetry/

 

https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/faq/founding-fathers-not-signers

 

https://historythings.com/the-many-written-works-of-alexander-hamilton/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_(musical)

 

Photos ~ All photos are in public domain except the Hamilton poster which is categorized as “Fair Use." 

"Alexander Hamilton" ~ Portrait by John Trumbull. 

 

"Alexander Hamilton in the Uniform of the New York Artillery" ~ Portrait by Alonzo Chappel.

Portrait of Hamilton authoring the first draft of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

A 1901 illustration of Aaron Burr fatally wounding Alexander Hamilton in their 1804 duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. 

The Federalist Papers.

An advertisement for the book edition of The Federalist. 

Florida Artists ~ George Inness, Jr.

I confess I’d never heard of George Inness, Jr. (nor George Inness, Sr., also recognized as an important artist) before researching Florida artists.

And yet, this renowned landscape artist and philanthropist contributed so much to the one Florida town’s cultural development that it is often referred to as the City of Arts.

That town is Tarpon Springs, located on the west coast of Florida in the Tampa Bay area, and it’s also known for its Greek heritage, freshly caught fish, and sponge-diving. (I’ve been a tourist there ~ the fish and the baklava are great and you can buy all kinds and sizes of sponges!)

Mr. Inness (January 5, 1854 – July 27, 1926) was born in Paris, France and lived an intercontinental life. While living on the East Coast of the U.S., his father often took him to Europe. 

He began his artistic career as a magazine illustrator but eventually attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He later opened a studio and even became “an Officer in the Académie des Beaux Arts, a rare distinction for an American” (Hall of Fame).

Once he returned to the U.S. in 1900, Mr. Inness became a snowbird. He lived in Cragsmoor, New York, but wintered in Tarpon Springs. The latter is where he spent his most productive years as a landscape painter.

The Unitarian Universalist Church in that Florida city owns eleven of his works. A few of these are murals painted on the church sanctuary walls.

Museums that include his paintings in their collections include: 

• Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• New Jersey’s Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
• Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, Daytona Beach, FL 

“He is recognized as a great Florida artist for his depiction of the state’s unspoiled landscapes full of the flora and fauna of his time” (Hall of Fame)."

Here’s an interesting tidbit ~ Financial success seemed to be launched after Mr. Inness sold a large painting of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington to his father-in-law, the founder of a publishing company.

Mr. Inness’s 27-room Florida home, known as Inness Manor, became a famed artists’ colony. It boasted a large painting studio and artists’ cottages where other prominent painters often visited.

Chetolah, his New York home, has its own claim to fame ~ it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Johnnie Alexander is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of more than thirty works of fiction in multiple genres. She is both traditionally and indie-published, serves as board secretary for the Mosaic Collection, LLC (an indie-author group) and faculty chair for the Mid-South Christian Writers Conference; co-hosts Writers Chat, a weekly online show; and contributes to the HHHistory.com blog. With a heart for making memories, Johnnie is a fan of classic movies, stacks of books, and road trips. Connect with her at JohnnieAlexander.com.

Photos

George Inness, Jr. Portrait By Internet Archive Book Images ~ https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43632603; no restrictions

Sources

Hall of Fame ~ https://dos.fl.gov/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/george-inness-jr/

Unitarian Universalist Church in Tarpon Springs ~ https://www.uutarpon.org/inness-paintings/

Honorary Floridians ~ A Recap

 

Florida has long been known as a state of transplants. So much so that when attendees at a local chamber of commerce committee meeting were asked to go around the table and introduce themselves, those that were born in the state proudly announced their name followed by, “and I’m a native Floridian.” 

 

When it came my turn, I managed to get a few laughs by saying my name followed by, “and my son is a native Floridian.”

 

That was, incredibly, over twenty-five years ago and that son, now living in Oklahoma, has a “Flo-Grown” decal and a Florida State University (his favorite college team) license plate frame on his vehicle.

 

What was true all those years ago—that being a Florida native was a little uncommon—is probably still true today though not necessarily in my family. Four of my five grandchildren are also “Flo-grown,” and while not a native myself, last year I claimed Florida residency for the third time in my life. 

 

What can I say? I adore this state where the sun often shines when it’s raining, there are alligators in the pond behind our house, and long-legged sand cranes stroll along our streets. And, yes, the heat and humidity can be atrocious. 

 

That makes no difference to me. I hope to live the rest of my life here!

 

What does all this have to do with Florida authors, artists, and architects?

 

As you may have realized from reading my posts on this series, few of the featured individuals were born in Florida. However, each one lived at least part of their lifetime in the Sunshine State.

 

In fact, none of the four talented individuals we’ve highlighted this year can claim the coveted “Flo-grown” title. 

Yet each one is an acclaimed honorary Floridian.

 

Let’s do a quick recap.

 

Julia Daniels Moseley (1849-1917), author of “Come to My Sunland”: Letters of Julia Daniels Moseley from the Florida Frontier, 1882-1886, moved to the Tampa area from Illinois. The home she and her husband created, known as “The Nest,” is now on the National Register of Historic Places. She lived about half of her life in Florida and is buried in the Limona Cemetery, Brandon.

Mary Ann Carroll (1940-2019), the only woman included in the twenty-six Original Florida Highwaymen—Black artists known for selling their colorful landscapes from the trunks of their cars—was born in Georgia. Along with the other Highwaymen, Ms. Carroll was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. She moved to Florida as a child and is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery, Fort Pierce.

Untitled ~ Poinciana Tree

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953) was born in Washington D.C. She is the author of two award-winning books that were adapted into major films ~ The Yearling and Cross Creek. Both these works were inspired by the farm, now a state park, that Ms. Rawlings established in the Florida “scrub.” 

 

Katherine Cotheal Budd (1860-1951) was born in Clinton, Iowa and lived much of her life in New York. But she spent about three years in Florida where she designed two notable estates ~ the Howey Mansion in Howey-in-the-Hills and the Harry C. Duncan House in Tavares. Both these mansions are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. She lived the last ten years of her life in Arizona.

Howey Mansion

In coming months, I'll feature more authors, artists, and architects. How interesting it'll be to see if they're "Flo-grown" or "Honorary" Floridians. 

If you missed any of the above posts, then click on these links to find out more about these amazing individuals.

Florida's Featured Author ~ Julia Daniels Moseley

Florida's Featured Artist ~ Mary Ann Carroll 

Florida's Featured Author ~ Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Florida's Featured Architect ~ Katherine Cotheal Budd

Johnnie Alexander is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of more than thirty works of fiction in multiple genres. She is both traditionally and indie-published, serves as board secretary for the Mosaic Collection, LLC (an indie-author group) and faculty chair for the Mid-South Christian Writers Conference; co-hosts Writers Chat, a weekly online show; and contributes to the HHHistory.com blog. With a heart for making memories, Johnnie is a fan of classic movies, stacks of books, and road trips. Connect with her at JohnnieAlexander.com.

[Note ~ to find more information about photos and sources, click on the links for the individual posts.]