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“The Ashantilly Press.” It just sounds romantic, doesn’t it? And it sounds so quintessentially Southern. Well, it’s both. Nestled in the tiny town of Darien, GA, The Ashantilly Center (sometimes called “Old Tabby”) is a refurbishment of a former plantation originally owned by Georgia planter and legislator Thomas Spalding. The current structure was built quite literally on the ashes of an original home that burned in 1937; what stands now, as well as the notion of The Ashantilly Center, were both ongoing projects of artist William Haynes Jr. and his family. It’s an enigmatic property, covered in live oaks and Spanish moss, and one has to wonder how a printshop got there in the first place. Primarily a painter, I was told that Haynes was a polymath of sorts; he took up letterpress printing and it became an obsession, so over the course of a few decades he culled equipment, printed books & broadsides, and laid the infrastructure for the Ashantilly Press. I was lucky enough to visit at the behest of the passionate & tireless Harriet Langford, President of the Board of Directors, and I spent my time in the shop with Master Printer Nicholas Silberg.The Press is now housed in an outbuilding on the same property, and it hosts a Vandercook Universal 1, a Chandler & Price 10 x 15, and a Chandler & Price 12 x 18. The studio is as clean as an operating room, and it features large work tables along with dozens of cabinets of type that have been impeccably sorted and organized by the press’ stewards, Silberg and board member (and all-around extraordinaire) Sara Blocker. Off-site there’s an even greater amount of type and equipment – most of it waiting for cleaning, sorting, and integration into the space. I was really astounded by the collection – as with all the shops on the trip, I had no idea what I’d find, but Ashantilly was just astonishing. I couldn’t wait to dig in – there was an abundance of metal ornaments, a unique collection of cuts, and best of all – 3 presses that worked perfectly – including the 12 x 18 that was Haynes’ primary press. Inside the home, they also have a Baltimorean #14 tabletop platen press that was Haynes original press. Sometimes working in a legacy shop with a legacy press really gives a deep sense of continuity to printing as a craft, and it also cultivates a sense of gratitude in me for the people that came before and had the prescience to preserve equipment and tradition.

While there I found two magnesium cuts of handwritten pre-Revolutionary War poems, along with a copper cut featuring a map of the region from the same era. I put them both to use on the postcards I produced during my three day stay in mid-February.The event at Ashantilly was one of the best-attended on the entire tour so far, and I was happy to be able to introduce so many people to letterpress and to what Ashantilly does – preserve the Haynes’ legacy, focus on local and regional education, and the slow, arduous task of rebuilding and maintaining the household. Under the directorship of Harriet, Ashantilly seems on the cusp of a great breakthrough, and I was glad my event could contribute in some small way by bringing people in and getting them engaged.

Harriet & Sara live in an amazing house on Black Island just a few miles away, and they were kind enough to invite me to stay with them during my time at the Press. They’re a fantastic team. As we drove through the Spanish moss hanging from the trees down a dirt road on an atypically rainy night, I couldn’t help thinking I was getting a very coastal Georgia experience: a complicated landscape & a temperamental climate that almost seems to embody the social & political history fraught with controversy. On the drive, I kept feeling like it was the dawn of something very new for the South in general, especially if the foundation is laid by institutions like The Ashantilly Center, helmed by some of the most generous, thoughtful, open-minded, and resilient people I’ve met on the trip so far.

I wish that I could tell the whole story here because it’s amazing, fascinating, and fueled by the love & passion of a few individuals, like all good stories are. In the meantime, here are the pictures. Take note of the fantastic little typographic figures in the margins of Hayne’s book, The Field Diary of A Confederate Soldier!

In late November, right after launching The Itinerant Printer project, I received a very short, very cordial email from Mika Fowler in Tallahassee, FL, inviting me to visit his little shop, or telling me to let him know if I needed a place to crash on the road. Mika’s shop had no formal name, no website, and after a little research I found out that printing wasn’t his main trade at all – it was photography. This seemed like my kind of place – small, out of the way, not one of the usual suspects – this is the story of American letterpress that I’m always after. It’s since taken on a more substantial life, gotten tons of local press, and been formally crowned as Sangha Press.

I accepted his offer and we worked out the details – we were going to host a Meet & Greet and print demo on Valentine’s Day to share the print love (and coincide with a Friday night gallery hop). I didn’t know what to expect out of Tallahassee. I didn’t know what to expect out of Mika and his studio. But, the gears were in motion and I left St. Petersburg and headed up to the panhandle to see what Northwestern Florida was all about.

Mika’s studio is located in an art compound in Tallahassee called Railroad Square; he’s been at his current location for 10 years, but Railroad Square has been around for 30. It’s a series of outbuildings located near the railroad, former warehouses and other bare-bones structures that served a particular purpose at one time, but have now been renovated to serve as art studios and retail spaces. The little community is vibrantly colored and wildly diverse, it’s littered with coffee and vintage shops, photo and pottery studios, a craft brewery, and of course, a print shop.I was happily surprised by the grassroots community and by Tallahassee itself – it’s a mid-size city with a strong university presence and a small but tightly knit arts & music scene. The people were generous and inquisitive, and with the help of Mika’s partner Helen, we pulled off a fantastic Valentine’s soiree complete with food, drink, and a postcard featuring a heart constructed entirely of 36 pt Parsons metal type. Throughout the night, I kept meeting people Mika was working with to enhance Sangha Press – craftspeople who could help repair presses, technicians who could laser cut wood type for him, and other photographers to index it all (hard to print & take photos at the same time). He even runs an informal open studio model/apprenticeship in order to encourage people to participate in letterpress.

Mika’s love of print is evident in his diligence – he crafts small-scale projects for himself: cards, books, notebooks, etc. and then he fully executes them working hours a day – it was inspiring to be around someone who had learned so much about a secondary craft and dedicated so much time to it, even if it wasn’t a wildly attractive financial proposition. He is straightforward and some might say cantankerous, but we got along well – I can be ornery at times too. It’s a good thing we did, because his space is small and packed with a Challenge 1528 KA proof press, a 1947 Dodson 10 x 15, a treadle C & P 8″ x 12″, and a nice 19″ Challenge guillotine cutter.Below check out some pics from the studio, the event, and around Railroad Square. After a few great days celebrating the love of letterpress in Tallahassee, however, it was time to head on to Ashantilly Press in Darien, GA! Additional photo credits go to Alicia Osborne from Alicia Osborne Photography.