#288 Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park

We found a place two hours down the road called Stephen Foster and didn't know or couldn't remember much about any of it. Why was he famous? Well before we left, I would know plenty.

Stephen Foster was is the fellow that wrote I Dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair. Camptown Races, and way down below the Suwanee river. While you're visiting remember it was 1830 and there were different standards and that would be something that you would have to make peace with.

The campground itself is very nice and a big sprawling park with quite a lot of nature trails. There was something called the Carillon Tower which is a really big bell tower with an automated chime thing that would play songs that Stephen Foster wrote. Let's just say it was cool. We went to a presentation and listened to a volunteer talk about Stephen Foster and play some of his music.

He was very enthusiastic about what he does.

He described the life of Stephen Foster as a monologue.

In his era, people would write songs but just as a composer writing a symphony.

It's not like you set down and wrote songs for a living. However, he did and he was the first to do it and make a living at it.

The people that performed his music works were known as the Christy Minstrel show.

This is where it gets a little dicey and becomes a whole lot like 1830.

They used black face during their performances and I'm pretty sure that but all modern standards they were making fun of black people. The way he described it is that this disturbed Stephen Foster so he didn't want his actual name tied to it. He sold the music to Mr. Christie so that people wouldn't consider it the Stephen Foster Minstrel show.

I doubt very seriously that he had a problem with it to the point where he didn't enjoy making a lot of money. I understand that he became wealthy doing all this.

Without doing more research I'll never know whether he had any racist tendencies or not but I know that the way the presenter framed it he cared about the plight of slaves. He thought it was wrong and he felt like if you do shows that present them with human stories and human emotions and human problems the population watching the show would begin to see them as human beings and not as live stock.

I assume that no other stories were being told about people of color other than maybe they're going to try to rape your daughter. Some of his songs and the minstrel show would tell the story of human and human conflict in human emotions and would force white people to see them as people not as animals.

With more research, I could find out if this was true but that's what the presenter offered. Basically that Stephen Foster was a nice guy and yes there was blackface and yes it was 1830.

He is one of the most well-known songwriters because everybody knows his songs all over the world.

During one of our hikes, we went down to the Suwannee River. I wish I could say it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw but it wasn't. It was just a river.

It was interesting to see markings showing the high water of several hurricanes. I took some pictures of how deep it was where we were standing at the moment. It was 20 or 25 ft tall where we were standing.

Another part of the story is Old Folks at home. It's a very famous song maybe the most recognizable of all. He was looking for a lyric and his brother sent him something and said why don't you use the phrase Suwannee River? He did and it was just what he needed to bring the song together. He had never even seen or been near the Suwanee River but it would be his most famous song.

In the center of the park was the Carillon tower playing music all day from a player piano. It played Stevn Foster all day and it sounded so nice.

We went to the UMC church on Sunday but I wore my cargo shorts and a kind of a toned-down Hawaiian shirt.

I was welcomed and sometimes they ask if anybody wants to stand up and introduce themselves. There was a nice fella there who is pretty much probably 80 and he said well you're welcome even though you don't dress quite right.

Now were getting south enough to not feel cold all the time.

Address: 11016 Lillian Sanders Dr, White Springs, FL 32096