Koreshan State Historic Park

Taking the trip to Koreshan State Park I knew was going to be interesting from beginning to end even though I have previously visited there multiple times. The park itself is something everyone has to experience for themselves especially the locals. Out of the previous trips to visit the state park I never had a clue they had canoeing until now. Going canoeing down the Estero River was very interesting since it was a first for me. Seeing all the nature while out on the water was awesome even though we all kept running into each other.

After experiencing what it is like getting more water in the canoe than in the river we went through the nature trail which was once again another thing I did not know they had. I thought walking through the nature trail seeing and learning about all the exotic species of plants the Koreshan community loved to plant.

Some of those plants we saw along the way included both Chinese and Japanese bamboo. We learned the difference between the two types of bamboo is that the Chinese is bigger while the Japanese is thinner. Other than finding exotic and invasive plants we also found an invasive species of lizard named the brown anole which has a relative that is also invasive called the ring anole. Our naturalists also pointed out a patch of red berries which I forgot the name of having similar looks of a cherry growing right off the trail that should never be eaten. One of these berries when eaten can kill a human in four hours or less.

Although I had a slight overview of the Koreshan community background I still left the park with a whole knew set of facts that I never had a clue about. The Koreshan community was definitely an interesting group of individuals to learn about. The whole background on their view of the universe basically being inside out and actually backing that up with Dr. Teed’s telescope and other equipment to show how the earth bends upwards instead of downwards was very interesting to learn about and looking at all the artifacts.

Before the Koreshan State Park became a historical park it was not as big because the water level was higher but there were more homes in the area for the couple hundred followers in the community. The Koreshan Park quickly became an urban environment as more people became aware and later turned into followers that helped develop that area by building mills, stores etc. After Dr. Teed’s idea about the universe being inside out made the community as well as Dr. Teed to believe that they were the center of the earth.

Preserving historic parks such as the Koreshan State Park keeping their natural settings is key to finding the history behind them. Although many of the artifacts were duplicates they still knew everything about the artifacts and buildings by preserving them. Many things changed over time at the Koreshan State Park because of how old it was but they still repaired and preserved the leftovers to maintain a similar environment as back then.