Where the Light Waits

The Riverview Hotel Reception Lamp, St. Marys, GA

While on this writing retreat, I learned that Roy Crane, a nationally recognized cartoonist and creator of Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy, and Buzz Sawyer, once happened upon the Riverview Hotel in the 1930s. One of the hotel’s rooms is now named and thoughtfully themed in his honor—a quiet nod to the creative legacy he left behind during his stay.

In 1935, Crane arrived in St. Marys aboard the “Toonerville Trolley,” wandering the town’s streets in search of ideas. That same year, he paired Tubbs and Easy as globetrotting companions, using the Riverview Hotel as part of the backdrop for many scenes in the comic strip. The warm glow of the front desk, the sense of welcome, the steady calm of the place—all found their way into ink. During his time in town, Crane stayed at the Riverview, taking his meals there as well, absorbing the rhythms of daily life as naturally as breath.

Even the central cannon appeared in his drawings, stationed at the crossroads just as it remains today. Very little has changed since then. The road still leads you in gently. The river still holds its calm. The only real difference is that there are no longer cattle roaming and grazing along the way —though if you know me, a few cows and chickens wandering about would make it a very good day indeed.

What remains is harder to name—something artistic, something attentive. An atmosphere that seems to invite those inclined to notice. This place feels destined to attract the literary-minded, to draw artists in quietly, and to offer just enough stillness to bring out their best work.

Before I ever saw Crane’s comic strip, I found myself at that same front desk in the wee hours, when most of the world was still asleep. The old Tiffany lamp cast its gentle glow, patient and unhurried, as if it had been waiting—not just for a guest—but for the early riser, the writer, the one who arrives at exactly the right time.

Standing there, it was impossible not to feel that others had stood in that same light before, carrying their own stories, sensing—as I did—that some places remember who they are meant to receive. 

Roy Crane's Comic Strip Featuring St. Marys, GA Setting, circa 1935