What I Learned On This Day
****WARNING**** Lots of photos again. This was such a neat place to visit I got carried away and this is only a fraction of the photos I took.
Everyone knows the song "The Old Folks At Home" which may be better known as 'Way Down Upon the Suwannee River'. But how many know who wrote the song?
A young man named Stephen Collins Foster wrote that song. He was a rather prolific songwriter and, I found out on this excursion, wrote a whole slew of other songs like, Camptown Races, Oh Susanna, Beautiful Dreamer, My Old Kentucky Home, Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair and many, many more. In all he wrote over 200 songs. I never knew Stephen Foster had composed most of the ones I listed. Stephen taught himself to play the clarinet, violin, flute, guitar and piano.
Stephen, it is presumed by many sources, never laid eyes on the river he made famous. He passed away in 1864, in New York, at the young age of 37. In 1931 a proposal was made to make a memorial to Stephen in Florida on the banks of the Suwannee, which Stephen had made famous. That was where I went on this particular day. The memorial is a Florida State Park, and has been deemed one of America's Best State Parks. The park's museum opened in 1950.
Once inside the park it is mostly a one-way loop. First stop is the museum honoring Stephen and his works. This is the front entrance.
Inside the museum are 8 dioramas. Each one depicting a different song. This was the one for Camptown Races. In the center of the photo (you may have to click on it for the larger version) you can see horses racing around the track. They eventually come around again. There are 2 more dioramas in the carillon building. Each one took roughly 1,500 man hours to create.
Also inside the museum are many pianos. This one was built from Rosewood and was used in Philadelphia in 1850 when Jenny Lind sang there. There is an inscription from Ms. Lind herself on the sounding board of the piano.
This piano was simply beautiful. I cannot imagine the amount of time it took to make this design.
If you stand in the center of the museum and look toward either end there are large paintings by Howard Chandler Christy. This one is called "Beautiful Dreamer" and it depicts Stephen and three of his songs. It was painted in 1948.
Walking back out the front entrance you can see just how busy the park was on this lovely morning. Nohia is the only car in the lot. Ahem,,,moving on,
Here is a shot of the back entrance to the museum.
As I walked around I noticed lots of little white lights wrapped all around the trees. Here is an example. In December the park has a Festival of Lights and they turn on over 5 million lights throughout the park.
My next stop was the carillon building. The tower houses a 97-tubular bell carillon. It chimes every quarter-hour and four times a day, after it chimes the hour, it plays a medley of Stephen Foster's songs. The park changes out the song rolls every few months. The tower was built in 1957. This was the largest and last carillon built by this company. You are not allowed up into the tower.
Once inside the carillon building there are two of these. They are antique sheet music cabinets. I love the woodwork.
There are more pianos in the carillon building also and this one depicts Stephen and his Suwannee River song.
This is what makes the carillon chime when it does. I apologize for the reflection. I tried several different angles but couldn't get a clear shot.
This piano is made out of walnut.
A sculpture of Mr. Foster.
After I left the carillon building I walked across the street. There is a gift shop with nothing of interest to me. There are little cabins that house crafters doing knitting or metal working and a blacksmith. However, no one was there on this day, bummer. I hung around to listen to the carillon chime the hour and play the medley of songs then walked down to the gazebo on the banks of the river. Signs like this remind you that this is part of The Real Florida. See, I told you there would be more posts about it.
The different colored bands on this post are marked with the years there was major flooding along the Suwannee. To the left of the post you can see the river, but it is deceiving how far down that is.
I took this photo about 12 feet down hill from the bottom of the post shown above. The river is still several feet below me.
I walked back to the car and headed out of the park. Just outside the park there is this old general store. I am not sure if it is open for business anymore.
When people started coming to see the Suwannee River, they found White Sulpher Springs. People claimed the mineral waters had healing powers. The photo shows the three story bath house that was built around the spring. Back in the 1860s the flow was estimated at 47,000,000 million gallons of water a day. In the 1990s it stopped running altogether. It is now flowing again but I cannot find any information on the rate of flow. The smell is unmistakable, phew.
As you step up onto the platform that runs around the spring this is the view. The opening at the far end used to have steel flood gates to keep the river water out of the springs.
Looking down towards the spring. The really dark area is the actual spring. Hard to get a good shot due to the angle of the sun.
From the end where the flood gates used to be there is a nice view of the river.
What little flow there is currently coming from the springs exits into the river here.
As I walked back to the car I saw this abandoned motel across the street. Every Memorial weekend the Stephen Foster State Park hosts a huge folk music festival. This little place sits maybe 50 yards from the park entrance. I wonder why no one has renovated it for use during the festival, or festivals the park hosts each year.
On the way out of town I saw this place. What a cool house.
For the record, Florida isn't the only place that honors the memory of Stephen Foster. There is a Stephen C. Foster State Park in Georgia, a lake named after him in Mount Pisgah State Park in Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh has a Stephen Foster Memorial which is fitting as he was raised in Pittsburgh.
Thus endeth the lesson learned on this day, and there will not be a quiz.There will be more Real Florida posts in the future so get your paper and pencils ready because I just might pop a quiz on you.
Everyone knows the song "The Old Folks At Home" which may be better known as 'Way Down Upon the Suwannee River'. But how many know who wrote the song?
A young man named Stephen Collins Foster wrote that song. He was a rather prolific songwriter and, I found out on this excursion, wrote a whole slew of other songs like, Camptown Races, Oh Susanna, Beautiful Dreamer, My Old Kentucky Home, Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair and many, many more. In all he wrote over 200 songs. I never knew Stephen Foster had composed most of the ones I listed. Stephen taught himself to play the clarinet, violin, flute, guitar and piano.
Stephen, it is presumed by many sources, never laid eyes on the river he made famous. He passed away in 1864, in New York, at the young age of 37. In 1931 a proposal was made to make a memorial to Stephen in Florida on the banks of the Suwannee, which Stephen had made famous. That was where I went on this particular day. The memorial is a Florida State Park, and has been deemed one of America's Best State Parks. The park's museum opened in 1950.
Once inside the park it is mostly a one-way loop. First stop is the museum honoring Stephen and his works. This is the front entrance.
Inside the museum are 8 dioramas. Each one depicting a different song. This was the one for Camptown Races. In the center of the photo (you may have to click on it for the larger version) you can see horses racing around the track. They eventually come around again. There are 2 more dioramas in the carillon building. Each one took roughly 1,500 man hours to create.
Also inside the museum are many pianos. This one was built from Rosewood and was used in Philadelphia in 1850 when Jenny Lind sang there. There is an inscription from Ms. Lind herself on the sounding board of the piano.
This piano was simply beautiful. I cannot imagine the amount of time it took to make this design.
If you stand in the center of the museum and look toward either end there are large paintings by Howard Chandler Christy. This one is called "Beautiful Dreamer" and it depicts Stephen and three of his songs. It was painted in 1948.
Walking back out the front entrance you can see just how busy the park was on this lovely morning. Nohia is the only car in the lot. Ahem,,,moving on,
Here is a shot of the back entrance to the museum.
As I walked around I noticed lots of little white lights wrapped all around the trees. Here is an example. In December the park has a Festival of Lights and they turn on over 5 million lights throughout the park.
My next stop was the carillon building. The tower houses a 97-tubular bell carillon. It chimes every quarter-hour and four times a day, after it chimes the hour, it plays a medley of Stephen Foster's songs. The park changes out the song rolls every few months. The tower was built in 1957. This was the largest and last carillon built by this company. You are not allowed up into the tower.
Once inside the carillon building there are two of these. They are antique sheet music cabinets. I love the woodwork.
There are more pianos in the carillon building also and this one depicts Stephen and his Suwannee River song.
This is what makes the carillon chime when it does. I apologize for the reflection. I tried several different angles but couldn't get a clear shot.
This piano is made out of walnut.
A sculpture of Mr. Foster.
After I left the carillon building I walked across the street. There is a gift shop with nothing of interest to me. There are little cabins that house crafters doing knitting or metal working and a blacksmith. However, no one was there on this day, bummer. I hung around to listen to the carillon chime the hour and play the medley of songs then walked down to the gazebo on the banks of the river. Signs like this remind you that this is part of The Real Florida. See, I told you there would be more posts about it.
The different colored bands on this post are marked with the years there was major flooding along the Suwannee. To the left of the post you can see the river, but it is deceiving how far down that is.
I took this photo about 12 feet down hill from the bottom of the post shown above. The river is still several feet below me.
I walked back to the car and headed out of the park. Just outside the park there is this old general store. I am not sure if it is open for business anymore.
When people started coming to see the Suwannee River, they found White Sulpher Springs. People claimed the mineral waters had healing powers. The photo shows the three story bath house that was built around the spring. Back in the 1860s the flow was estimated at 47,000,000 million gallons of water a day. In the 1990s it stopped running altogether. It is now flowing again but I cannot find any information on the rate of flow. The smell is unmistakable, phew.
As you step up onto the platform that runs around the spring this is the view. The opening at the far end used to have steel flood gates to keep the river water out of the springs.
Looking down towards the spring. The really dark area is the actual spring. Hard to get a good shot due to the angle of the sun.
From the end where the flood gates used to be there is a nice view of the river.
What little flow there is currently coming from the springs exits into the river here.
As I walked back to the car I saw this abandoned motel across the street. Every Memorial weekend the Stephen Foster State Park hosts a huge folk music festival. This little place sits maybe 50 yards from the park entrance. I wonder why no one has renovated it for use during the festival, or festivals the park hosts each year.
On the way out of town I saw this place. What a cool house.
For the record, Florida isn't the only place that honors the memory of Stephen Foster. There is a Stephen C. Foster State Park in Georgia, a lake named after him in Mount Pisgah State Park in Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh has a Stephen Foster Memorial which is fitting as he was raised in Pittsburgh.
Thus endeth the lesson learned on this day, and there will not be a quiz.There will be more Real Florida posts in the future so get your paper and pencils ready because I just might pop a quiz on you.
When I was in 6th grade chorus we had to perform in the cariklon tower. I ended up having to sit down so as not to pass out because I had locked my knees in place so as to stand tall. I do still remember the dioramas in the museum and how lovely the cariklon bells sound.
ReplyDelete