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Down by the Sea
208 S. 3rd St.
Flagler Beach FL
386-437-3712
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     Bill Ryan is retired and living in Palm Coast Florida after a lengthy career in marketing of high technology imaging equipment.  He is webmaster for several local history groups, plus the Flagler County Public Library.  He has authored journals and papers on photographic imaging, and was also active in the development of an early digital color print system.  He holds the degree of Craftsman from the Professional Photographers of America. Bill was a guest lecturer on professional photographic techniques and lighting.  He held several U.S. Patents.  Bill Ryan's career began with the Ansco Corporation, descendent of The Edward Anthony Company, America's first photographic manufacturing company.  He did much to record the history of this early manufacturer, which supplied Mathew Brady with most of his supplies during the Civil War.  He had accomplished some notable research on Civil War photographic techniques.

  Here is some of Bill Ryan's early Mathew Brady research.

     His interest in Flagler County Florida's history began with the library's
"Flagler Memories" project when the then ancient Old King's Road kept
appearing again and again.  This early Colonial Roadway was rapidly
vanishing with the development of the area, and Bill resolved to record
it on film, and with words before it vanished totally.  He made both still and video records for the Flagler County Public Library.

     Old King's Road refused to die even under the blades of the bulldozers as new developments appeared along its route.  Files, books, verbal histories and old maps appeared like magic as Bill continued his research on Old Kings Road.  He soon discovered that most of Florida's history had travelled down this roadway, built before the American Revolution.  As the roadway vanished, it was also being forgotten.  Bill has lectured in Flagler County urging developers and governmental agencies to mark and identify the historical sites that are so rapidly vanishing.

     The Search for Old King's Road continues with the account of the Florida History that once flowed down it.  Bill Ryan completed a second book which covers the account of "Grey Eyes" the Indian guide that marked the Old King's routing for the British Governor, and once drove a herd of 500 cattle, with 25 Indian boys some 160 miles from Georgia to New Smyrna Florida.  Their epic cattle drive and what occurred after it makes a unique record of Florida's early history including the wars, settlers, and refugees on Florida's historic Old Kings roadway.

Osceola His Capture and Seminole Legends is based on newly discovered locations and information on the Osceola capture site along Old Kings Road just south of St. Augustine.  It contains never before published information about this important Seminole leader.  Bill Ryan's research was pronounced as "important" by Seminole historians, and makes a readable historical/fiction account based mainly on real happenings that brings you the real reasons for the disaster of the seven years Seminole War.

Bill Ryan gives many talks to libraries, museums and groups interested in Florida history and uses his photographic skills for power point presentations to bring our history alive.

By special arrangement with the Down By The Sea shop in Flagler Beach Florida we will soon be showing the work and history books by Florida artists and authors