Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park Even though we were never official campers at Stephen Foster during our volunteer time here we did take advantage of the various events and park amenities on our days off. The camping area is one of the most popular in the area with campers coming back year after year. Weekends are, of course, the most popular time. The campground has two large bathhouses with lots of hot water. Each bathhouse has two washers and dryers for $2 dollars a load. Of course, we volunteers have our very own washer/dryer inside the storage area of one of the bathhouses that we can use for FREE. The campground also has its own playground area with lots of different equipment for the kids to enjoy. During the peak seasons, the park rangers hold campfire music and/or educational programs for the campers and evening visitors. This park is unique in that it closes the camping area for the entire month of May for their annual Florida Folk Festival during Memorial Day weekend. The campground is available only to vendors, participants, and volunteers of the festival during that month. The entire park is set more in an urban setting as it is located in the middle of the town of White Springs, Florida in Hamilton County between I-75 and I-10 about 20 miles from the Florida/Georgia Line. The town does have a couple of restaurants, a few gas stations, a laundromat, hardware store and a Dollar General. The nearest Walmart Super Centers are west on I-10 in the town of Live Oak, Florida or going south on I-75 in Lake City, Florida. During our stay, we visited the Stephen Foster Museum, which is included in the price of admission as well as the Craft Village and Gift Shop. The craft village, generally, will not have anyone selling or teaching crafts until the weekend but the Gift Shop is always open 7 days a week. The park also has an extremely nice boat/canoe launch located between the band shell and the Cabins area. When the river is not flooding the area it makes for a nice place to walk along the river or just sit and watch the water go by. Sadly, we didn’t get a chance to check out any of the cabins but there are some very nice pictures on their website. These are also extremely popular during the weekends and kind of pricey for our tastes but extremely nice as well as well maintained. The park has events almost every single month and most weekends you can find someone playing music on the Gift Shop porch. If you like crafts, music, fishing, kayaking or just camping out in a nice campground then we would highly recommend you give them a try. If you have a hankering for a great calzone or pizza we would highly recommend the Bridge Street Cafe (Formerly known as Lonnie’s Pizza). Of course, Fat Belly’s Barbecue has some pretty good food as well. Sadly, on our last visit to the park June 2016 we noticed that the Citgo Gas Station/Meat and Produce Market/Family Traditions Restaurant located directly across from the Dollar General was closed. That is too bad as they had a really great Sunday Dinner kind of menu that a lot of the locals and visitors appreciated. Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park 11016 Lillian Saunders Drive/ US HWY 41 North White Springs, FL 32096 (386) 397-4331 https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Stephen-Foster 39 RV spots – 45 total but 6 non-reservable ( 2 campground hosts, 4 walk-ins) 30 Back-In 30Amps 1 33 Back-In 30Amps 1 37 Back-In 30Amps 1 38 Back-In 30Amps 1 40 Back-In 30Amps 1 41 Back-In 30Amps 1 42 Back-In 30Amps 1 43 Back-In 30Amps 1 44 Back-In 30Amps 1 45 Back-In 30Amps 1 46 Back-In 30Amps 1 47 Back-In 30Amps 1 48 Back-In 30Amps 2 49 Back-In 50Amps 1 50 Back-In 30Amps 3 56 Back-In 30Amps 4 57 Back-In 30Amps 1 59 Back-In 30Amps 1 62 Pull-Through 30Amps 5 WHERE TO GET WHAT YOU NEED GROCERIES Dollar General 16881 Spring Street (Hwy 41) White Springs, FL 32096 (386) 397-2726 http://www.dollargeneral.com/home/index.jsp Opened 7 Days a week 8am to 10pm GAS S&S Convenience Store/Shell Gas Station 16753 Spring St White Springs, Fl 32096 (386) 397-2482 S & S FOOD STORE/BP Gas Station 12498 Roberts St White Springs, FL 32096 (386) 397-2749 Munchies Food and Gas Store 12765 Roberts St White Springs, FL 32096 (386) 397-1362 RESTAURANTS Bridge Street Cafe 10570 Bridge St White Springs, FL 32096 (386) 397-1070 http://bridgestreetcafe.eat24hour.com/ Pizza, Calzone, Subs, Salads and Sandwiches Fat Belly’s Bar & Grill 16750 Spring St White Springs, FL 32096 (386) 397-2040 SUPPLIES Suwannee Hardware & Feed 16660 Spring St White Springs, Fl 32096 (386) 397-2551 Walmart Super Center 6868 US-129 Live Oak, FL 32060 (386) 330-2488 OPEN 24HRS Walmart Super Center 2767 W US Hwy 90 Lake City, FL 32055 (386) 755-2427 OPEN 6 AM to MIDNIGHT RV PROPANE Kelly’s RV Park 142 NW Kelly Ln (ON HWY 41) White Springs, FL 32096 (386) 397-2616 http://www.kellysrvpark.com/ LAUNDROMAT Bud’s Suds 16714 Springs St White Springs, Fl 32096 (386) 397-2784 MEDICAL CARE Shands LakeShore Regional Medical Center 368 NE Franklin St Lake City, FL 32055 (386) 292-8000 http://www.shandslakeshore.com/ Lake City Medical Center North Florida Regional Healthcare 340 NW Commerce Dr Lake City, FL 32055 (386) 719-9000 http://lakecitymedical.com/ OTHER LOCAL BUSINESSES American Canoe Adventure-1 Bridge St White Springs, Fl http://www.aca1.com/ https://www.facebook.com/AmericanCanoe/ Adams Country Store – Antiques Shop Antiques Bought & Sold Store Managers: Billy and Brenda Gipson 16536 Spring Street White Springs, Fl 32096 (813) 986-3597 https://www.facebook.com/Adams-Country-Store-348691671904240/ http://www.suwanneevalleytimes.com/archives/275-adams-country-store-restored.html Savan Liquor 16543 Spring St White Springs, FL 32096 (386) 397-2093 White Springs B&B 16630 Spring Street White Springs, Fl 32096 (386) 397-4252 http://www.whitespringsbnb.com/ MAP OF THE AREA White Spring Florida Area Map Our pictorial review movie from our 4-month workamping assignment at the Park