Ocali Country Days

November 13 & 14th were "Ocali Country Days" at Silver River State Park, a festival which re-creates what life was like here in Central Florida in the 1800s. I donned an orange vest & wielded an orange flag to help direct parking on Saturday.

Sat. & Sun. were public days. The park was open for school children/field trips during the week.

Various groups were represented, dressed in period clothing.

Artisans were plying their crafts.

There were demonstrations of 1800 era life activities:

Spinning

Basketmaking

The Blacksmith explains his trade.

Kids taking a turn squeezing sugar cane.

Which is boiled into Cane Syrup here. Bottled Cane Syrup was for sale. This is a traditional fall activity for north Florida families. In the early days, this was their only source of sugar, which was used for cooking, curing meats, and making rum.

The Cracker Village came alive with activity.

Cracker Cow Camp

“Cracker” is the term for early Floridian cowboys, reportedly from the sound of their whips as they herded cattle through the once-open scrubland.

Meet a cracker horse: Marion County being the “Horse Capital of the World,” it’s not surprising there’s a breed of work horses here descended from the original Andalusians brought by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. The Cracker horse is an official breed. They’re extremely resistant to parasites, diseases, bugs, heat. They’re little four-wheel drive horses that it is said can outperform any other horse in Florida

Send yourself a message: A telegraph club that rescues and restores 19th-century telegraph gear has two tents set up at opposite ends of the village. You can stop in one and send yourself a souvenir message to yourself by Morse code to the other. This is the original text messaging.

Civil War Camp

Cover your ears: There’s no need for a watch; at the top of every hour an actual, restored Civil War-era cannon will fire. It’s an 1864 Parrott Rifle. This was an innovation in artillery designed by Robert Parker Parrott, and reputedly is deadly accurate. It’s part of the war encampments, the Union on one side of the village, Confederates on the other, naturally.

This little fellow was having a good time working the water pump.

Or, how about helping build a log cabin? No power tools are used in shaping, lifting or placing the logs in the cabin.

Our volunteer group had a table where volunteers shared what we do to help the park. I helped out here on Sunday afternoon.

Meet some Seminoles: Not the ones from Florida State University, but members of the Cyprus family of Seminole Indians that lived decades ago in a village at adjacent Silver Springs attraction. In a small corner off the main village, the Seminoles have built a native chickee building and hand-embroider authentic clothing.

My kayaking friend, Ev, helping out.

One of the permanent residents of the park.

Several groups provided musical entertainment during the festival.

Want to listen?