Hi All,
Today we visited Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park. We have applied for a volunteer position here and we wanted to check it out.
The park is a bit of an enigma. Stephen Foster, of course, composed the song "Old Folks at home" that includes the line, "Way down upon the Suwannee River". Hence his eternal connection to Florida. But it might not have been. In this copy of the original lyrics, "Pedee" was replaced by "Suwannee " because the lyric flowed better.
We were surprised to learn that Foster, a Pittsburgh native, never visited the area and never saw the Suwannee River. But the song had a life of its own. In the 1930's, the Florida Federation of Music Clubs with the backing of an heir to the Lily Pharmaceutical fortune, set out to find a spot along the Suwannee to create a memorial to Stephen Foster.
They selected this spot and a beautiful antebellum style building was built to house a museum. The park opened in 1950.
This is a replica of the Melodeon that Foster played.
Painter Howard Christy was commissioned to create two large Foster portraits. This one, "Beautiful Dreamer" was based on an 1860 tin-type photograph.
The second, titled "Many Happy Days I Squandered " with an image of Foster in his youth is based upon the artist's imagination.
The park also has a Carillon tower with 97 tubular bells. Sadly it was struck by lightning and needs an expensive restoration.
Love,
Sandy & Carl
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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