Journal #4

         Our field trip to Koreshan State Park was a great time! It was awesome to go out and get to canoe for a couple hours. During the canoeing portion of our trip, I saw several animals and species. I saw a great blue haron, white ibis, mullet, and a Cuban anole. I have been canoeing at this park multiple times and the past and never really took the time to appreciate and look at all of these different animals and species, so this was a nice change. Besides the canoeing portion of this trip, we took a little hike followed by a tour with the ranger. I never knew how much history was behind that park, so our tour with the ranger was a total surprise to me. During our tour, the range informed us all about Dr. Koresh’s history and background. This town the colonists called home consisted of 200 people who all were delegated a different job. The Koreshans worked a printing facility, boating facility, a cement shop, and a bakery, from what I can remember. I thought it was so unique how everyone had their own specific responsibility throughout everyday in this community. Another fact that I found crazy was how they believed in the idea that the universe existed with a big hollow sphere. I find it difficult to even wrap my head around that belief! From the lectures that we have had in class, I can relate my experience at Koreshan State Park to those ideas. One idea that I can relate it to would be the preservation of land. During the tour with the ranger, she emphasized the idea that they work to keep the land as similar to how it was back in the day to now. They work to not only keep the houses and buildings the same, but the forest and wildlife area as well. Another idea that I can relate my experience at Koreshan State Park to would be the idea of sense of place. The way that the colonists lived in this community directly represented this idea. They knew everything about it and loved everything about it. Keeping and preserving historic and natural settings like this part is very important and interesting. It is always a good thing to see the way that people lived in the past and to be able to compare and contrast how different it is to now. Having places like this helps people to appreciate everything that we have to enjoy in present day. Overall, my experience at the Koreshan State Park was a great time and I would definitely do it again!