Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park

We really enjoyed Hanna Park.  It feels like a jungle, there is a lot of space between campsites, and it is just beautiful!  Here is a quick bike tour of a bit of the park:

 

Hard at work

This is me working in my “cubicle” to create weekly blogs…

 

Wildlife

Well, we haven’t seen any alligators in the wild yet, but we haven’t given up!  Lots of wildlife here is very tiny – including flying insects that like to bite Cherryl!  But some are nice to look at:

Some others are not as noticeable, but pretty interesting:

 

Kingsley Plantation

Zephaniah Kingsley was an interesting character, full of what today we would call glaring inconsistencies  –

He was a slave trader early on.
He owned over 60 slaves to work his plantation.
He married Anna, one of his slaves.
He married a few others, too, simultaneously, making him a polygamist.
He set Anna and their four children free.
He was a pioneer in ethical treatment of slaves.
He still felt slavery was natural and right.

He started his plantation on Fort George Island (Near present day Jacksonville) when Florida was owned by Spain.  The Spanish allowed free Blacks to own property and gave them pretty much total freedom.  It was when the U.S. took over Florida that trouble started – rights of free Blacks were taken away and it was considered bad form to marry a Black person.  Zephaniah eventually moved his family to Haiti, where they could remain free.  He remained in Florida tending to business here.  Yep, and interesting character indeed.

His home is considered the oldest plantation house standing in Florida.

The barn now serves as a museum and lecture room.

The Slave houses were made of Tabby, a concrete made with sand, oyster shells and water.  It was course but durable…  now 25 of the original 32 are in ruins. One has been restored, the rest have been torn down.

 

Ferry Ride

We took a short cut across the bay from the Timucuan Preserve area, where the plantation is, to a spot close to our campground.

 

 

Christmas in Florida

Late in the week we drove till we got to Christmas, Florida.  I was fully planning on that being the funny part of this week’s blog – Christmas in Florida already!  Unfortunately, I was also planning on getting some pictures here today… but it rained most of the day.  So all you get to see now is the sign and a few palm tree trunks lit up.  Maybe next week!

 

 

 

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