Day Trips From St. Augustine: Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park

Stephen Foster never set foot in Florida but he wrote our official state Song: Old Folks At Home (Swannee River). There's an interesting story about how he dropped a syllable to make the cadence of the song more viable, but this is not my story.

A bit over 100 miles from St. Augustine, The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park qualifies as a day trip, and is an excellent destination point. The park itself, when not hosting a festival or jam, is quiet, friendly, and easily negotiated by car. If you're interested in this park and its events, visit www.musicliveshere.com. However, if it's quiet, not music, you have come to experience, this section of the Suwannee River can be a great place to unwind.

Banks of soft white sand interspersed with limestone crops make the water color even more surreal than advertising photos portend. Like southern sweet tea, the Suwannee River begins its 266-mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico in the Okefenokee Swamp, owing its rich, almost black color, to the tannic acid left by an inestimable number of rotting leaves and Palmetto roots. We watched as a canoe caused a small wake that, when illuminated by the winter sun, turned the water a dark purple. It's a sight my camera could not quite capture, but it was mesmerizing to see.

This river, which meanders at an average of 2.5-3 miles/hour, changes in size, configuration, and depth, depending upon location. All of it has alligators, and all of it is dark and foreboding while simultaneously eliciting calm and contentment to anyone who rests on its shores.

Home to over 60 springs feeding the Suwannee, to me the highlight of the river, and any who journey down it, would be the sense of going back in time. Not quite to a primordial epoch, but instead to a time of the discovery of Florida, when the banks of this stunning river were home to Timucuan Indians.

Canoe rental outfitters are aplenty, but most are hidden to protect the beauty of the experience. Enjoy these pictures taken 9 February 2008. And take my word for it. If you tire of our First Coast beaches and want to try something different, this was one of the best day trips we've ever taken. Enjoy.

Patsy Ittner, RN, Broker/Owner, Little Fox Realty, http://www.littlefoxrealty.com/, 904-687-3665, Serving the real estate needs of Saint Augustine and Jacksonville, Florida