Robert Buccellato of Crawfordville is an author, as well as Historian for the Clerk of Court of Leon County.
He has published three books to date, “Florida Governor’s Lasting Legacies,” “Finding Dan McCarty,” and “Jimmy Carter in Plains: The Presidential Hometown.” The latter tells the fascinating and inspiring story of Jimmy Carter’s surprisingly successful campaign and 1976 victory of becoming the 39th President of the United States.
The book describes how growing up in the small town of Plains, Ga., shaped the man, and how together he and his community of supporters, known as the Peanut Brigade, changed the nation through an unprecedented hands on approach to politicking.
It walks you through the presidency, highlighting those things that set Carter apart from presidents before him, such as his position on civil rights and his eventually winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Buccellato also describes the inevitable changes the town of Plains underwent as a direct result of the influx of tourists and media attention surrounding the campaign and presidency. Much effort went into preserving the small town’s charm despite it’s growth during this period.
The book is not only well written, but it is also artfully illustrated with an array of old photographs to support and enhance the story.
From the moment you meet Buccellato, it is obvious that he has a great appreciation for history.
More importantly, he is a story teller who enthusiastically imparts bits of historical whimsy to anyone who will listen.
When asked what inspired him to write this book or why Jimmy Carter, he generally answers that he was largely influenced by his grandfather, a 20-year legislator in the Florida House of Representatives during the Golden Years of Florida Politics.
However, in a speaking engagement and book signing at the Gwinnett County Public Library in Atlanta earlier this year, he admitted that upon further reflection, the answer actually runs deeper than that. Carter, as a peanut farmer from South Georgia, beat all the odds and became a huge success who “has the ability to make things that seem extraordinarily impossible not only possible, but easy, with hard work and determination,” he says.
“And that feeling that you and your community can run, and win, a presidential campaign, is something, I think, that speaks to the best of our system,” Buccellato says. “And it’s still evergreen, this possibility of improving and helping to evolve our system.”
An avid supporter of preserving the “pockets of history across the country, because many have been lost” Buccellato says that upon entering Plains, one sees “miles of hill and tree, people feel they’ve stepped back in time to a lifestyle of day’s past.”
In fact, he has been known to compare Crawfordville to Plains.
When asked about this, he readily offered noteworthy similarities between the two towns. For instance, the old world feel of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s is still present in both places.
In Plains, it’s in the preservation of the old Train Depot that acted as campaign headquarters, largely because it had the only public restroom in town.
Here, the sense of old Florida can be found in the beach bungalows and white sand beaches.
Additionally, both towns have what he described as a detached sense of community, still supporting a feeling of “the leisurely agrarian lifestyle and a freedom from being plugged-in.”
The book mentions that shortly after the election, Plains received its first traffic light.
This brought back memories of growing up in Crawfordville, during a time when there was only one traffic light.
Buccellato has been writing since around the age of 12, beginning with fiction and later focusing on non-fiction. Originally from Hollywood, Fla., he moved to the panhandle in 1998.
After attending FSU, he married his wife Stephanie and welcomed their son Croston to the family last year.
In addition to his family, career as historian and numerous book publishing’s, Buccellato manages book signings, radio shows and speaking engagements, as well as a YouTube channel and a Florida history blog.
He is currently working on writing his fourth book, a biography of Jimmy Carter.
here is the link folks
http://www.thewakullanews.com/content/%E2%80%98preserving-pockets-history%E2%80%99
