This is our last stay in Florida and what a beauty it was. Probably the most beautiful State park we have stayed in and they were in the middle of decorating for Christmas. Apparently they start in September and officially open The Festival of Lights on December 5th. However, if you are there in between, you get to see it as it is coming together. Much better than competing with 1,000 people per day who come in the middle of the season. Stephen Foster was a prolific song writer who died in his early 40's in the late 1800's after writing over 200 songs. Many of his songs are still popular today including "Old Folks at Home" which is about the Suwannee River. The park is on the banks of this river. His death was attributed to an accident where he fell against a sink while sick with a fever. The fall caused massive bleeding and it is thought that he bled to death.
This Carillon Tower sounded chimes on the hour and half hour and played five whole Stephen Foster songs every two hours. It was so great. You could hear the music all over the campground. Surprising how many songs we recognized. Inside it was all beautiful marble and a total tribute to Stephen Foster with copies of many of his works in progress. The workers were busy while we were here installing lights from the top of the tower to turn it into a giant Christmas tree.
The Museum had about 20 piano's that Stephen had played at some point in his career. All, of course, very old.
Lots of walking trails
These buildings are all filled with craft people with their wares to sell.
These dioramas were very good. They had moving parts that made them very interesting.
Beautiful Spanish moss again which is really just an air plant
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