Ray Charles road trip in Florida and Georgia

For those who love the greatest musical genius America has ever produced, you can take a Ray Charles-themed road trip around Georgia and Florida.

On the way between pockets of family in Florida and Georgia, Masayo and I stopped by the great man’s birthplace (Albany, Georgia) and the town he grew up in (Greenville, Florida). It was great to see the memorials that each town has built — and his childhood home, recently rebuilt in Greenville.

A speeding ticket in rural Georgia was the only dark spot on the trip.

Usually we shoot up I-75 to get back and forth, but this time we went out of our way, completely avoiding the interstates, just to see Ray.

Ray Charles in Greenville, Florida

Arriving in Greenville, Florida was nice — it was about 4:00 pm and the weather was perfect. I had scoped it out on a map before leaving Gainesville (we had neither a map nor any GPS or smart phone service with us) and we drove right to the Ray Charles memorial next to the town hall — brown “site” signs show you the way anyway.

(Note that the older sign in the park says “HAYES” but a newer road sign in town says “HAFFYE HAYS“. I used the spelling of the newer sign in this article; I don’t know which is correct.)

In Greenville (population less than 900) the Ray memorial is in Haffye Hays Park, a small recreational area built around a pond. People were fishing, and some kids were hanging out under a covered picnic area, whiling away the afternoon before the weather gets hot.

A statue of Ray at a keyboard, life-size, has been installed in a small concrete circle, at the end of which is a plaque explaining that Ray grew up in Greenville from about 2 months old until he was sent to St. Augustine around age 7 to a school for deaf and blind kids.

We took photos and I tried to soak in the atmosphere of the place — the last things Ray Charles ever saw before going blind were right here, in this town. He also learned to play piano here, from the proprietor of a general store. At that time (the mid 1930s), the roads were probably mostly unpaved, but the trees and air would have been the same. Train tracks go right through the town near the park but I don’t know if they were here then.

I was so excited that I nearly forgot to drive a few blocks over to Greenville’s main Ray attraction, but Masayo reminded me: the recently-reconstructed childhood home of Ray Charles.

Located on Ray Charles Avenue (how’s that for coincidence!), the small grey house sits on a residential street, with occupied houses on either side and a forest across the street. A historical plaque is in the front yard, but the property is fenced off. A sign says to call city hall to arrange a tour, which I would have loved to do but it was already too late in the day.

So we walked around and saw what we could of the house. Here, Ray lived with his mother and little brother George — until he watched George drown in a tub in the yard shortly before losing his sight to glaucoma. Right here, in this yard and on this front porch, all this happened. I suddenly understood why people made pilgrimages to Graceland in Memphis. Elvis isn’t really my thing, but going to a site so closely related to a person you idolize that much makes sense to me now.

Down the street, a few houses from Ray’s place, was a group of people having a cookout. Kids ran around and the adults laughed and cooked, paying no attention to the historical building on their street. Of course they’d be well used to it by now, but I still wondered what it would be like to live so close to such an important place in American music. Not different from living anywhere else, I suppose.

Tearing ourselves away, we rode back past Hays Park and waved bye to the statue, and headed down the highway, soon crossing into Georgia, my home state.

Speeding ticket from a dishonest cop

Near the town of Camilla, on Highway 19, I saw a police car turn around and put his lights on. He got behind me, and I pulled over. He said the speed limit was 55 but I was going 77, which was completely untrue, and he must have known it. But what could I do? I didn’t argue, nor did I agree. I don’t ever speed like that, and certainly wasn’t this day — I was in no hurry, just enjoying the drive.

Ray Charles in Albany, GA

Shaking off that unfair abuse of power, we continued on to Albany, Georgia, where Ray Charles was born. His pregnant mother had stopped in town to visit relatives, and gave birth there. A month or two later, she moved down to Greenville, so Ray had no memory of the place. But, the town is still quite proud of their native son.

It was dark when we arrived, though we drove by the fountain and statue of Ray to watch the light show a little bit. But we soon left to find our hotel, and came back the next morning.

In the daylight, we could see the statue better. Ray plays his piano, stomping his feet and nearly falling off his bench — just like in real life. His head is up and he sings in his unmistakable pose.

Despite the continuous sound of the water in the fountain, it’s another sound that dominates the little park by the river: Ray’s music, coming from speakers placed around the area and on a loop. Masayo and I sat on a bench and listened for a while.

I noticed that all of the songs that we heard — including “That Lucky Old Sun”, “Georgia On My Mind”, and “Crying Time” — were from ABC Records. So, no “What’d I Say”, and no “I Got A Woman”, and no “Anonymous Love”. I guessed it was a greatest hits-type CD someone was playing. I think they should have everything, from every album, on a loop. But I guess that would be too many songs the general public didn’t know — all good stuff, but not hits. Oh well. More for me.

We had to get going, so after “America the Beautiful” ended, we got up and walked to the car, the sound of water and Ray fading in the background as we approached the parked car.

Both Greenville and Albany have done well by Ray, though I will need to return to Greenville to see inside of Ray’s childhood home. It was a nice little road trip with a good theme, and it made me want to expand it next time: Ray lived in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Orlando as well, plus Seattle, in his early life. Maybe I can investigate these places further some day, but one thing is sure: a thematic road trip is a lot of fun!

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