John Webster

In the 1940s and 1950s much of the organized entertainment in Lakeland was provided by social clubs. These clubs met monthly at the homes of the members. Dinners were part of the gathering and provided the host an opportunity to showcase both their cooking ability and their tableware. The Duchesses and the Counts social clubs sponsored an annual formal dance at Lakeland Hall and sometimes posed for professional photographs. The Counts appear here in formal tails and white gloves. The gentlemen are, left to right (left row) Gasson Bradford Sr., James Weems, Anderson Walls, George Walls, Charles Carroll, and Harry Braxton Sr.; (right row) Mack Allen, John Webster, William Sharps, Aubrey Corprew, Chesley Mack, and Ashby Tolson.

Sunday School picnics were a summer highlight for Lakelanders. Everyone would pack a lunch and meet on the third Saturday in July at an amusement park or beach for a day of fun in the sun. The community’s two churches regularly came together for the outing. In 1962, the Embry A. M. E. Sunday School outing took place at Carr’s Beach in Annapolis, Maryland. From left to right are John Webster; Mary Weems Braxton; and Wilmer, Delphine, and Maxine Gross. (Courtesy of the Gross family.)