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Richard Parks began working at Evon Streetman Photography in Tallahassee ca. 1963. Streetman later sold the business and studio to Parks when she moved to Gainesville about 1965. The studio was renamed Richard Parks Photography.

Accompanying note: "Though today a town of less than 200 people, Newport was in the 1850s the fifth largest community in Florida. It began in 1843 as a refuge for the survivors of Port Leon, a cottonport five miles further down the river and on the opposite bank, when it was wiped out by a tidal wave and hurricane."

"Taking the remains of their cotton export business up the river, the refugees built the new town and in a few years had extensive warehouses, an iron foundry, a newspaper, and the first county seat of Wakulla County, carved that same year out of Leon County to the north."

"The cotton export business began to decline shortly before the Civil War due to the building of railroads in the state, but Newport was still active enough to interest Yankee soldiers coming up the river to capture Tallahassee. Though they were stopped at the Battle of Natural Bridge seven miles north of the town, they burned down all the warehouses and left the community in ashes."

"Newport rebuilt after the Civil War, but never recovered its former prominence. Today most of the land and much of the rental property in Newport is owned by the Saint Joe Paper Company, which has a subsidiary there."

"A small boatworks in Newport built invasion personnel landing craft during World War II. The entrance to the Saint Marks Wildlife Refuge is located across the bridge from Newport, with the road winding through the refuge to the Saint Marks Light built in 1836."