Brunswick: Past & Present

My love of history started in high school when my US History Teacher Mrs. Hanna had our class research our family tree. That turned into a decades long pursuit with my Granny, Vonnie Dukes. She never batted an eye about helping me bug her elder cousins for ancient photographs and showed me where all the bodies were buried - literally and figuratively. I'm so glad I got to spend that time with her! 

The family history project blossomed into a deep dive into Charleston history, where I was invited to serve as an admin for the mega-popular Charleston History before 1945 Facebook group. From there, I started a similar page for my hometown of Johnsonville, SC.  Check out Johnsonville SC History if you want to learn more about a cool little town. 

Because of my love of old photographs, I was fascinated by articles I started to see showing colorized versions of historic photos.  I started to think - I think I could do that, too ! I taught myself to colorize and did it for fun using my own family photos. Before long, folks were asking me to do the same for them, and I realized there was a need not only to colorize, but also restore and preserve memories for future generations - so Josh Dukes Restorations was born! 

I fell in love with Brunswick over a decade ago and when it officially became my home in 2020, I decided to put all my history energy into uncovering the fascinating past of this one of a kind place. I'm so amazed by the response to our Golden Isles History Facebook page, and can't wait to share my new book Brunswick: Past & Present with you all!