Hundreds attended Putnam’s Bartram Frolic

  • A William Bartram re-enactor informs local children about the plant life the real Bartram encountered during his travels throughout the area in the 18th century.
    A William Bartram re-enactor informs local children about the plant life the real Bartram encountered during his travels throughout the area in the 18th century.
  • The Pride of Palatka gets ready to launch on a river cruise on the St. Johns River at the Bartram Frolic on Saturday.
    The Pride of Palatka gets ready to launch on a river cruise on the St. Johns River at the Bartram Frolic on Saturday.
  • David Fussell tells stories at the Bartram Frolic on Saturday at the Palatka riverfront.
    David Fussell tells stories at the Bartram Frolic on Saturday at the Palatka riverfront.
  • Jim Sawgrass portrays Micco Clucco, also colloquially known as the Long Warrior, at the Bartram Frolic.
    Jim Sawgrass portrays Micco Clucco, also colloquially known as the Long Warrior, at the Bartram Frolic.
  • People attending the Bartram Frolic on Saturday talk to a historical re-enactor about life during the 18th century when William Bartram explored what is now Putnam County.
    People attending the Bartram Frolic on Saturday talk to a historical re-enactor about life during the 18th century when William Bartram explored what is now Putnam County.
  • A group talks to a historical re-enactor about life in the 18th century when William Bartram visited what eventually became Putnam County.
    A group talks to a historical re-enactor about life in the 18th century when William Bartram visited what eventually became Putnam County.
  • The band Gatorbone plays for people attending the Bartram Frolic on Saturday at the Palatka riverfront.
    The band Gatorbone plays for people attending the Bartram Frolic on Saturday at the Palatka riverfront.
  • Positively Putnam FL
    Positively Putnam FL

A three-day celebration of Old Florida marked festival season in Putnam County this weekend and attracted at least 500 people to the area.

The Bartram Frolic brought people from outside of Putnam County to retrace explorer William Bartram’s steps as he traveled here in the late 1700s.

Festival activities included living history actors at the Palatka riverfront, boat tours on the Pride of Palatka II, cycling trips and kayaking expeditions.

“It just worked out so wonderful,” said Ken Mahaffey, vice president of the Bartram Trail Society of Florida.

Bands played music for festival-goers about Bartram and families walked from booth to booth learning about Florida. Mahaffey said his favorite parts of the festival were watching the people enjoy the Passport to the Past on the riverfront, answering questions and seeing the children smiling as they learned.

Society president Sam Carr also mirrored Mahaffey’s favorite things from the festival but Carr could not quite narrow it down.

“I enjoyed it all,” he said.

Boat tours on the St. Johns River sold out, Carr said, and all of the people on the tour came from outside of Putnam County to learn. Mahaffey said even Alachua County educators traveled to the Frolic to learn from the society’s event.

The vice president began working to preserve William Bartram’s history in 1977, he said. Mahaffey and his wife traveled to London to obtain copies of Bartram’s travel maps. He said seeing how far Bartram’s legacy has come in Putnam County is something he’d never thought would happen.

“It was just a fun time seeing things getting accomplished,” Mahaffey said.

The weekend event ended Sunday with a three-hour symposium dedicated to William Bartram’s journey, and 50 people attended. As a whole, however, Mahaffey estimated 700 people attended over the weekend.

“It was a good thing for Putnam County,” Carr said. “We were tickled pink with it.”

 

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