Way Down Upon the Suwannee River

Stephen Foster Folk Cultural Center State ParkWhite Springs, Florida

We decided to head over to Stephen Foster Folk Cultural Center State Park, here in White Springs, Florida.  It is one of the nicest state parks that we’ve ever been to.  We initially had planned on staying there, but changed our mind because we wanted sewer hook-ups, and our campground is a little cheaper and better for our budget.  Next time we’ll probably stay here.

The Suwannee River runs through the park,  but there are no campsites along the river.  The water level is extremely low now and it’s a long way down!

We took a walk along the riverbank near the kayak and canoe launch area.  It was muggy and warm, but nice otherwise.

You can see the normal water levels in some of these pictures.  What you are looking at is the river floor, which is not normally visible.  We looked for some artifacts and found what appeared to be a piece of petrified wood but we were hoping to find some arrowheads or sharks teeth.

 

Not all the river was quite as low as the above pictures.

We brought the kayaks but decided against attempting to paddle the river.  You’d have to carry them over the sand bars.  Not my idea of a relaxing paddle down the Suwannee. 

The campground is one of the nicest we’ve seen.  The sites are very private with heavy vegetation between them.  There are plenty of sites that are big rig friendly and we saw plenty of large rigs parked very comfortably.  The sites are $20 and the cabins are $100.  

The cabins appeared to be fairly new and nice.

Here are a few photos of some of the nicest camp sites.

 

We aren’t sure how easily it would be to pick up a satellite signal.   We were wishing we had a compass with us, then I remembered, we had the Droid phone.  Surely with all those apps, I could find a compass.   Droid didn’t fail me.   How about this for a nice compass?   I had it upside down, but it still worked :)

I have decided I much prefer the Droid’s GPS function over our brand new Garmin.  The main thing I like about the Droid GPS is it’s satellite view.  The other thing is all I have to do is tell it where I want to go and it takes me there.  No keypad necessary :)   I’ll take some pictures of both so you can see the difference of the screens.

The  camp sites were angled so that you could easily back in, not the 90 degree angle that you see at many campgrounds.  It was a very well laid out campground and the sites were plenty large and level.  There was no shortage of great sites and the  roads were all paved. 

Some of our favorite sites were, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.  I cannot guarantee getting a signal from your satellite though.  There is heavy tree cover.

After we visited the camp ground we toured the rest of the park.  It’s very large and there is a lot to do. 

They have a craft area with several building for different types of crafts.  Apparently they have demonstrations every week.  Today we saw a blacksmithing demo, which was quite interesting.

I saw one that I knew both Paulette and Karen would be interested in :)  It’s a little hard to read but it was weaving and quilting.

They had a little craft store and Al wanted to buy a t-shirt.   He was kidding.   He knows he’s never getting another t-shirt :)  

   I did find an interesting seed that I wanted to buy and see if I could get it to grow.  If we weren’t selling the house, I’d have bought these seeds and planted them next spring.

There is a museum dedicated to the composer Stephen Foster.  He made the Suwannee River from his song “Old Folks at Home” which is more often known as “Way Down upon the Suwannee River.”  

Stephen Foster, wrote Old Suzanna, Camp town Races,   along with Old Folks at home.  He wrote over 200 songs, but died in his 30’s.  He was born in Pennsylvania and it’s thought that he never even saw the Suwannee River. 

There is a very nice tribute to him in this museum though with scenes depicting some of his famous songs.

 

The Carillon Tower plays a bit of his music every 15 minutes.  At noon it played an entire song. 

We spent an enjoyable afternoon at this State Park and highly recommend it. 

 

The Bunny photo of the day.  These are not wild rabbits.  The owners of the park have a little boy who owns them. 

Tomorrow we’re off to Big Shoals State Park.

Bunnies, Bunnies, Bunnies

 White Springs, Florida

I love anything furry and these guys are not only furry, but very cute.


We didn’t do much today.   We were kind of tired so we just messed around. 
This is our campsite. 

We brought the kayaks, but the Suwanee River is very  low right now.  I’ve never seen it so low.


This is where I was when I fell.  The ground was hard packed sand and didn’t look slippery, but that one spot was definitely a bit slippery. 
The Suwanee is a black water river and the dark water makes for some beautiful reflections. 


A few fall colors also.

We found a nice little park today called Falling Creek Park.  Its along the Suwanee River and has a pretty nice waterfall when the water is a little higher.  We took a walk down to the river, not expecting to see any water “falling”.  We were surprised there was still enough water to make somewhat of a waterfall.
The river drops from a limestone ledge down about 20 feet.  It was kind of different.


I’d like to come back when the river water is not quite so low.  This is a picture from the map of what it could look like.
The picture isn’t so clear, but maybe you can see it well enough.

The last time we were at the Suwanee River, it was much higher.  I need to post some before and after pictures.
Tomorrow we hope to get over to Big Shoals State Park.  They have a nice trail along the river.  It’s a day use park, but they have a nice work camper site.  Maybe someday we will work camp there.