I found numerous photographs of this statue of Chief Osceola on the internet, the earliest labeled circa 1950s. The statue, by Bernice West, stands in Osceola’s Garden at Silver Springs State Park, one of several garden areas along the walkway along the spring. The plaque tells the story of October 23, 1834 when the Seminole met in council at the Springs to discuss the demands of the United States government that they move to the west. Osceola’s oratory and arguments against the removal carried the day and The Great Seminole War started not long afterwards.
As I searched for information on the sculptor and the gardens, I studied many of the photographs taken through the years. The backgrounds caught my interest, they of course vary as the park changed. The colorful background you see in this photograph is a large, beautiful painting on a concrete pad behind the statue. As Karl took these photographs, I did a quick search of the perimeter but did not see an artist attribution or any interpretation. It may be in the painting, but if so I did not see it. If anyone knows the artist name, please let me know so I can include it. Note in the photo below that the state of Florida directly in the middle.
We love visiting new places, but also re-visiting places we explored before. On each visit we find something that had not caught our attention previously.
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