Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park

We stayed from 9/30/19 - 10/5/19 and we have nothing to note as a con for this State Park. We loved our large site for our large rig, plenty of elbow room in the loop we were in (loop 2).

• easy access from I75;
• wonderful showers as they were clean and plenty of hot water;
• the staff were super friendly;
• washer and driers available;
• plenty of biking and walking paths available;
• We loved exploring the 'on site' Stephen Foster museum, gift shops and the Carillon Tower;
• good connectivity.

Stayed seven nights (Site 09 Canebreak Loop) with eighteen fellow kayakers exploring the Suwannee River and nearby paddling venues like the Ichetucknee and Santa Fe. Easy drive minutes off I-75. Site was roomy, private, level packed gravel with lush vegetation, fire ring, and picnic table. Other loops more open favoring big rigs and tents. Electricity (30A) and water reliable with convenient plumbing splitter already installed. Bugs not a problem. Bath house with self-laundry ($1.00) nearby. Firewood $5.00 picked up from Camp Host under the "honor system." Go hike, bike, canoe, kayak, or chill. Visit the on-site Stephen Foster Center and learn about his storied musical history. Or just listen to the Carillon bells tolling during the day. Magical place for family and friends. Few notes: Nearby White Springs, FL is a shabby poverty stricken place so the 20-mile trip South to Lake City is necessary for anything decent. A train runs by infrequently (heard it once during the week), but it is extremely loud and the entire campground shakes. Yuk. My King Jack found only three lousy OTA stations. Hot spot streaming okay (Verizon), but not great. Quoted rate is FL resident + senior citizen (50% off).

This gem is absolutely gorgeous. Grounds are beautifully kept.

Campsites are level and well maintained. They are nicely secluded too. It’s supremely quiet here. The pull thru site we stayed in was fantastic. Over 100 feet long.

Bathroom facilities are state park template; also clean and well maintained. Laundry machines co-located in building.

Our stop was short - one night on a lazy cross country. This park looks like an amazing place for family fun. Biking opportunities abound.

Stephen Foster Folk Culture State Park is a delightful place for camping. It convenient to I-10 and I-75. The entrance is on Lillian Saunders Drive off US-41 in White Springs. There are shaded and full sun sites with water and 30/50 service as well as primitive sites. The dump station is convenient to the exit. Check in is easy and the staff throughout the park was friendly and helpful. Restroom/shower/laundry very convenient and clean. The sites are large enough for big rigs; 6 was and most appear to be level. The sites are gravel. Bugs were not an issue.
Obviously, the park is dedicated to Stephen Foster and his music as well as the Suwannee River. The Carillon Tower is not up to speed and is in need of tuning but it does occasionally play Foster music. Go in and enjoy the the history and artifacts on display. The Museum is not to be missed. The 10 dioramas that depict parts of Foster's "Ole Folks at Home" are outstanding and very intricate. The detail is outstanding.
The grounds are clean and well maintained and plenty of room to walk in the park or down to the smalll town of White Springs. The park hosts many events throughout the year so the campground can get crowded but note that July/August is off season and was not busy at all when we were there August 1-4, 2019.
So, there must be something to complain about. Well, the grounds need some signage to tell the visitor what is where. If you decide to visit this State Park, you won't be sorry. If you enjoy folk music and culture there are many events throughout the year to take advantage of.

Nice park. Some sites are especially private. Full hook ups and level sites. Lots of craft demos and classes if you have the time and are there at the right time. Check out the tower and the museum. Very cool but was dismayed to find out Stephen Foster had never been to this area. Also, the gift shop is worth a visit. Buyer beware though, if you are looking for local handmade items be sure you verify. Some items are handmade from other countries.

Just two nights here but we can tell it's worth a return visit when we are once again in the area.

We were here midweek and the campground was still nearly full, that's Florida for you in the winter time. Several rigs from Maine and a couple more from the New England states, escaping the frigid cold that they are experiencing up north.

Most sites looked large enough for 40 footers and our back-in site #37 was plenty long for one as well.

We visited this campground from 02/12/19 until 02/14/19.

Some of the sites are large RV friendly, some sites have nice visual privacy (i.e., vegetation between the sites) but it is more typically that there is minimal visual privacy between sites. Our particular site would have fit any size RV and had a fair amount of vegetation that provided added visual privacy. We enjoyed the small museum, carillon and the various state park walking trails during our stay.

Our site was a pull through with water and electric. Dump station was easy to access on the way out. Bathhouse was ok, not the cleanest I have experienced, but we chose to use our facilities for four nights, so it wasn't an issue.
Nice spacing between sites. We had some big nests of fire ants at our site, so be careful walking especially with pets. Site was spacious and nice for setting outside at least for the end of February. It wasn't too buggy except for a few mosquitoes.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Friday night jam session of local musicians playing bluegrass. They were very good and played for two hours. I would definitely recommend attending if it is scheduled.
As previously reported, not a lot to do in the town. But the park is great for relaxing.
The entrance is not marked to indicate entry to the campground so we were afraid we had entered wrong, but we were in the right location but it would be nice if they added signage to indicate it is the entry to the campground in addition to the museum and bell tower.

This was a quick stop for us after several weeks of social activity at other campgrounds and just before heading to an RV rally for more social activities. This was just what we needed in between to rest and unwind before heading to a rally. Our site was a nice pull-through with living area facing the woods so we had lots of space and privacy. Verizon and AT&T worked well. Check in was quick and easy. Would like to come back someday and spend more time exploring more of the park.

This was a nice campground, with some very large sites. Our pull through fit our 42' motorhome and tow car, and we could have parked another motorhome in the site as well. The park is grassy and heavily wooded and is attractive overall. It did rain a lot while we were there and the roads were pretty flooded for a day but did dry up quickly. AT&T and Verizon cell service was available, but speeds varied from very good to just ok. We didn't have full hookups but the bath house was clean and showers were hot. The dump station was easy to access on the way out. The free museum was fun to visit for a couple hours, but most of the "folk" craft shops were unoccupied, probably due to being off season. And of course the infamous tubular bells are still under repair. There's not much in the nearby town, but it doesn't take too long to drive to Lake City for supplies you can't get locally. Overall we enjoyed our stay, but didn't find much to do in the local area (though we also didn't look too hard). We'd definitely return if we found ourselves needing a campground in the area, but probably wouldn't seek it out as a destination other than as a place to relax and unwind for a while.