Where the Suwannee Tells the Story

Before the town lights, before the county lines, De Soto crossed this river back in fifteen thirty-nine. Spanish missions rose and fell along the Camino Real, Charles Springs had a trading post, stories time won't steal. Reuben Charles ran the ferry where the old road met the banks, Steamboats docked at Columbus Town, cotton bales in ranks. Civil War bridge at the river mouth, Union soldiers turned away, Governor Drew built his house right where the two rivers play. Where the Suwannee tells the story, if you listen close enough, Every bend holds a chapter, every spring holds a bluff. From the Timucua to the railroads, tobacco fields to today, Where the Suwannee tells the story, it's got a lot to say. Eighteen fifty-eight they drew the county line, Railroads brought the timber and the turpentine. Lyve Oak was the fifth biggest city in the state, Nineteen-oh-four courthouse, still standing tall and straight. Boll weevil killed the cotton, tobacco took its place, Dowling's sawmill humming, biggest mill in the whole space. Suwannee Springs resort where the rich folks came to heal, Sulfur water, wooden hotels, a grand and fragile deal. Where the Suwannee tells the story, if you listen close enough, Every bend holds a chapter, every spring holds a bluff. From the Timucua to the railroads, tobacco fields to today, Where the Suwannee tells the story, it's got a lot to say. Nineteen seventy-eight, the Cornetts found this park, Eight hundred acres, turkey oaks, music after dark. From bluegrass to Hulaween, the Spirit carries on, Way down upon the Suwannee, where the story's never done. Where the Suwannee tells the story... It's got a lot to say...