Wednesday, January 15th – Hiking of sorts

 

It was a cool and cloudy day today. I wondered where all this Florida sunshine was because I only saw it briefly the entire day and that happened while I was having a video call on my iPhone with my prayer partners.

We haven’t had any desire to spend time on the beach or at the swimming pool yet. We are finding enough other things to do until it warms up again.

Today we visited Koreshan State Historic Site. Dr. Cyrus Teed who lead this religious sect took the name Koresh from the Hebrew translation for Cyrus which means “shepherd”.

The people who settled here wanted to remove themselves from all that was evil or objectionable and live in peace and harmony with each other where all their needs were met. It was to be Utopia, the “new Jerusalem”, a life without crime, tobacco or drugs. They built and operated a printing facility, boat works, cement works, a sawmill, bakery, store and hostelry. Education was important to them as well as artistic endeavors. They produced plays and musicals which the outside community attended. They had a school which also educated students from the surrounding area.

After the death of Dr. Teed in 1908, the membership of his religious group which at one time numbered over 200, began to decline. In 1961, the four remaining members deeded 305 acres of their land to the State of Florida as a park and memorial.

The Koreshans were interested in growing unusual and esthetic plants for their gardens and orchards. We saw non-native specimens from Brazil, Australia, China, South America, South East Asia, Africa, West Indies, Tropical America, East Indies, Southern Asia, India, Japan, Tropical Pacific Islands, Mexico, Canary Islands, Madagascar and Sri Lanka.

I especially liked the Monkey Puzzle tree. It can grow up to 100 feet tall and its huge football shaped cones can weigh up to 18 pounds.

There is a native Live Oak tree that seems as huge to me as the Swiss Robinson Family treehouse in Disney World. I imagined the places on it where I would construct the rooms to my dream tree house.

This park also offers fishing, boating, canoeing, camping and has a nature trail. We spent most of our time walking on the nature trail which was flat and sandy. 

 

We observed some wildlife, but were happy to not encounter any alligators today.

 

There are three geocaches hidden within the park and we found all of them.