The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #160118   Message #3796504
Posted By: Joe Offer
18-Jun-16 - 08:04 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Stetson Kennedy (W.Guthrie/B.Bragg)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Stetson Kennedy (W.Guthrie/B.Bragg)
After his death, Stetson's home became Beluthahatchee Park. The Beluthahatchee Park is a four (4) acre park located within the 70 acre tract of land purchased by Kennedy in 1948 after the 18 acre Beluthahatchee Lake was created by impounding Mill Creek in 1945. This lake meanders through a natural basin and is surrounded by high bluffs, currently owned by the Lake Dwellers Association, a non-profit Florida corporation formed by the lakefront residents. In 1949 the 70 acre tract was subdivided and platted by the owner/developer Stetson Kennedy who recorded the restrictive covenants setting aside land in perpetuity as a wildlife refuge, and stipulating that residential construction be consistent with the developer's goal of "serving as a working demonstration that human and natural habitat need not be mutually exclusive, but can coexist in harmony."



In October 2011, Dr. Paul Ortiz gave a memorial presentation in Gainesville titled Stetson Kennedy's America. Kennedy's widow, Sandra Parks Kennedy, speaks at the end of the presentation. At about 1:05, Mrs. Kennedy tells the story of Beluthahatchee, a term Zora Neale Hurston heard from Florida African-Americans in the 1930s to describe a mythical place where discord is resolved. Kennedy sold his home to the county, and it is now a park. He gave his books to the Civic Media Center in Gainesville.