WELAKA, Fla. — A historic building in Putnam County disappeared in flames Monday.
Just days later, a story literally coming out of the ashes is bringing hope.
"It was a landmark," Welaka Mayor Jamie Watts points to where the building once stood at the corner of Elm Street and Front Street.
Wednesday, people stopped by to look at what’s left of the building that burned to the ground.
"It was about 8 o’clock in the morning," Watts recalled fire rushed through this building Monday on the St. Johns River.
The wooden building was built in the late 1800’s, rebuilt and restored in the 1990's.
It had been a casino, a packing plant, the town hall and the Welaka Maritime Museum.
The fire marshal is still investigating but he thinks it started as an electrical fire.
Firefighters could not save the old building, but they did save the house just a few feet away next door.
"We woke up to it," Michael Anthony remembered.
He and his wife live in the house next door that was saved. They also own the building that burned. It was her art studio and his boat restoration workshop.
"I was really heartbroken over this," Anthony said.
He even had one of John Wayne’s boats in there.
"I lost everything. I have one pair of shoes that I had on. Everything was stored over there because we were working on the house."
Picking through the charred remains, Anthony saw a face looking up at him.
His own.
He held a photo in his hand. "Look what I found! That’s my baby picture that didn’t burn!"
The edges were burned, but the photo of the smiling baby with a little curl on top of his head was clear as day.
"Is that a sign for me to be happy and know that I am a blessed human being? You know what, see that face … get happy! Be thankful for what I have. It’s going to be a new beginning. This is a sign," Anthony said.
Mayor Watts, looking at the picture, agreed.
"Yeah, as intense as that fire was, for that to have survived that. That is," Watts said.
The people who live in the town plan to help clean-up the spot, a place that’s been part of the once-bustling town for more than a hundred years.
Anthony is grateful for that.
And he's grateful for the symbolism and message he finds in the photo.
"Yeah, we’ve got some burn around the edges, but we weren’t in the building. We didn’t get hurt."