Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area, Flagler Beach, Florida
To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever! Amen. ~ Philippians 4:20
It was time to leave Gamble Rogers and move on to a new and exciting place. But we couldn’t leave this place without telling you a bit about Mr. Rogers and how the State Park was named after him.
Taken directly from the booklet the campground gave us when we checked in – –
He was regarded as the ambassador of Florida folk culture and popularized the state’s folk traditions in music, storytelling, writing and philosophical humor. Widely recognized as a guitar virtuoso, Rogers played in the finger-picking style of legendary country music artist Merle Travis. He was also heavily influenced by the guitar and vocal techniques of Woody Guthrie, whose singing voice closely resembled his own.
James Gamble Rogers IV was born in Winter Haven in 1937, the son of celebrated architect and designer, James Gamble Rogers II. Rogers was a precocious child who showed a variety of interests and talents. After high school he began what would become a four-year, checkered college career in a struggle to match his passions with his considerable aptitude.
Rogers spent his first semester at the University of Virginia, where by chance he met William Faulkner who was serving as an artist-in-residence there. Rogers had several meetings with the Nobel Prize-winning author before skipping his final exams to take guitar lessons from Charlie Byrd, a noted jazz guitarist, in Washington, D.C. The decision didn’t go well with the UVA administration, and Rogers soon found himself booted off campus.
The remainder of the article goes on to describe his career, but ends with his untimely death.
On a camping trip to Flagler Beach with his wife Nancy Lee Rogers (1943-2004) in October 1991, Rogers tried to help a Canadian tourist caught in heavy surf. Roger’s heroic effort to save a life is thought to have been compromised by spinal arthritis, a disease that had plagued the troubadour since his teens. Both men drowned on October 10, 1991. Rogers was 54 and at the zenith of a stellar career. The Flagler Beach State Recreation Area was renamed Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach in 1992 in his honor. Gamble Rogers received a Florida Folk Heritage Award posthumously in 1993 and was later inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1998.
80 miles, in just under 2 hours took us to Silver Springs State Park in Ocala.
It’s still not so nice today.
But the promise of blue skies lie ahead!
Silver Springs lies beside Ocala, so we have about an hour or so to go yet.
Ten more miles . . .
Silver Springs State Park, Silver Springs, Florida
After things were set to rights, we took a walk to check out the boat launch area and just get some exercise.
Remembering what paddling on the spring water in Ichetucknee was like, we can hardly wait to get out here!
But it’s best to wait for sunshine and warmer temperatures.
This was an ‘observation’ spot along the trail.
Not sure at this point what we’re supposed to be observing . . .
And that’s all she wrote . . . . for today. 😊