SW075 At 100 Years, Dade Park Remains a Central Point Raising Awareness of US-Seminole Conflict

Event note: The Dade Battlefield Historic State Park hosts Florida Heritage Day and a Dade Park Centennial Celebration all day on Nov. 13. The gathering includes Florida Music - Folk Crafts - Living History Demonstrations - Pioneer Games for Kids - Hands-on Activities for Kids and Adults and Food Vendors.

In our last episode, Steve Rinck traced the state of the Dade Battlefield from the 1836 recovery mission to the site becoming a historic Florida state park 100 years ago this month, September 1921 and then up to the present. In this episode, Jean McNary, a long-time educator about the Seminole Wars, brings us into the park itself in the last 50 years.

Above, the annual battle reenactment brings thousands to the park each January. Below, the famous statue of "Major Dade" as represented in statuary form by a Union private from the Civil War.

Below, the view of the visitor center from the reconstructed breastworks. 

Teacher Jean McNary wrote about the Dade Battle for graduate school in 1969. After moving to Florida to teach, she married. She and her husband, a state park ranger, lived at the park in the late 1970s. 

In the classroom and at the park, students learn about the Dade Battle and the Seminole Wars. Children come to Dade park for recreational activities as part of the Dade Pioneers group. 

Park Manager Bill Gruber demonstrates an era firearm to visitors. 

Jean has remained a key supporter for the Dade Battlefield Society, serving multiple terms as its president in the 2000s. Retired now, Jean remains involved in the annual Dade Battlefield Reenactment each January and with park events throughout the year.

Jean McNary (with hat) walks with fellow marchers (including Frank Laumer as a foot soldier) from Tampa to the Dade Battlefield in 1988. She later invited Jerry Morris (not pictured) to speak about soldier rations to her high school students.

 

Marker outside the park and patch. Learn more at https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/dade-battlefield-historic-state-park

 

Learn more at https://dadebattlefield.com/dade-battlefield-society-inc-501c3.html

 

Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. 

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