The book was very good, I was quite impressed, particularly with Margaret’s paintings and looked forward to going to see her art. But what was this Appleton Museum? I had never heard of it, and it was in Ocala. I thought Ocala as being some small country town of country people, colloquially called red necks. Now, the last time I was in Ocala was in the 70’s.  After living in Virginia for thirty some years I returned to Gainesville six years ago, perhaps Ocala had changed in that time. I Googled Appleton Museum and found their website and much to my surprise found it was a beautiful modern museum.  Okay, my image of Ocala was changing.

Margaret explaining one of her paintings

On the day of the exhibit I picked David up around 11 and we headed to the Appleton in Ocala. Rather than the faster Interstate 75 I take the slower but more scenic Highway 441 through gently rolling hills of horse farms arriving at the Appleton about 12:30. I was quite impressed, it was a modern building and there on the front was a large banner, WATER’S MARGINS, Paintings of Florida’s Springs by Margaret Ross Tolbert.  We entered and checked with the receptionist about the exhibit, and she said we were just in time, Margaret’s talk was just about to begin and pointing, she says it’s just down the hall to the right. David and I quickly walked down the hall and entered the exhibit room to find Margaret standing in front of her paintings explaining to a group of twenty or so people what the painting was about, which spring it was from, the perspective, the image she was trying to capture.  The first room had several paintings that were five or six feet in size… then we moved to the next room where there was a six-foot high, fifteen feet wide painting. Standing up close to it I could imagine I was snorkeling in the spring like I had done many a time.

After she finished going through all the paintings people gathered around her to meet her and ask questions. David and I stood towards the back of the group until it thinned out then Margaret looks at David and in a warm voice said, “David, it’s good to see you.” We step forward and David says hello to her and introduces me as his brother and then both David and spent a few minutes talking to her, and I told her how much I liked her paintings.

Me looking at Margaret’s collection of sketch books. She explained that she always had one in hand when she went to the springs. David said that Margaret had giving him one such sketch but it got damaged and he threw it away. . (Margaret in background)

David with Margaret

Others wanted to speak with her, so we left her to them and then spent more time relooking at the paintings before leaving.  It is a very nice museum, I will have to go back.

Updated: 01-10-2026

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