I have driven past this state park and stayed here briefly once before, but the campground spaces for RVs are a bit cramped and trees often block satellite access, so have pretty much passed it up in the past. This trip, I originally made reservations for the 23rd, 24th, and 25th at a state park near Tampa, thinking I might fly out of that airport. However, I decided to stay in Florida for the holidays and found three days available here at Koreshan, which saved me a drive of 230 miles round trip. Easier to stay here because is is closer to last and next campground.
Anyway, I will post photos of this campground tomorrow. Today, since I had some free time, I booked a walking tour of the historical area of this state park. In the late 1800s and until the property was deeded to the state in 1961, this place was a utopian religious community with some strange beliefs. For example, they believed that the earth was round, but they believed that it was hollow, with the stars, sun, and moon in the center of the globe and the people and ground were inside an outer shell. This is hard to visualize, but a photo later will explain it a bit more clearly. They also believed that members needed to be celibate. You could join the group with your children, and they were treated very well, but you could not have an relationships with the opposite sex or have more children. THAT was one of the biggest reasons that the group died out after the founder's death in 1908.
When the first people from the sect came here, there were no roads and not many other people in this area, other than cattle farmers and some people living on fishing. The group worked hard and built homes and dormitories, plus a store, bakery, industrial metal working shop, farms, and other places where they earned money to support themselves.
Anyway, there is more information on this on these sites:
- https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/koreshan-state-park/history
- https://www.naplesfloridatravelguide.com/blog/koreshan-state-park-historic-site
The volunteer tour guide did a great job of explaining the history of this place, by the way, so here are some photos!
This building was built as an art hall, but mostly served as a meeting place and a concert hall for its orchestra.
This is a model that the world as the Koreshans saw it. What this photo does not show clearly is that the left and right parts were convex and were supposed to depict the outer shell of the world that contained the land, oceans, and people. The middle part depicts the hollow center that contained the heavens, with the sun, moon, and stars. Takes some brain twisting, however!!!
Supposedly, this is a model of an instrument that proved that the earth was hollow.
While the religious founder managed the beliefs of the sect, there were seven women who were in charge of the actual running of the compound and its many businesses. They each had a private room in this house instead of living in the dormitories where the rest of the members lived.
Imagine this area filled with buildings. Most were burned or fell apart or torn down.
The land was purchased from an original settler who lived with his family in this little cabin.
This building was originally the home of the founder, with many of the sects children sleeping in the second floor.
The inside of the founder's home, or at the inside of the lower level. There is a long story about this, but one of the religious beliefs of the founder was that he was the 7th savior, right after Jesus, so he would rise from the dead and bring with him all the members who had died in the past. He lived here with a woman who was supposed to assist him in rising from the dead---strangely!
When this did not happen, this caused many members to leave the sect. The few who were eventually left, owned the property together and were the ones who donated it to the state.
Throughout this place, there was some amazing woodworking, including this beautiful staircase. There were two in this building--one for each side of the children's space on the second floor, which was divided by sex.
Another room on the opposite side of the first floor, where the woman chosen by the founder lived. (As the tour guide said, "Obviously, all people are equal, but some were more equal than others!)
Another view of the house where the seven women who managed the compound lived.
Another beautiful staircase.
At the far end of the compound was the industrial and metal working businesses, along with the bakery and kitchens for the sect.
Interesting industrial equipment. They maintained the water and other systems, as well as manufactured things like wrought iron that they sold to the public.
All of these businesses and their use of technology that was modern for the time meant that the community was financially stable and the members comfortable. It was the lack of new people joining to replace those that had died that really ended this colony.
Anyway, the volunteer gave much more detailed information than I have summarized here, and I am very glad to have taken the tour and learned more about this interesting group. And by the way, even after the land was given to the state, the remaining members stayed here, the last one dying in 1982!!
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