By Kristin Finney
Greene Publishing, Inc.
When most people think of patriotism and honoring America, they think of the Liberty Bell, the White House, the Statue of Liberty, and many other time-honored places across the United States. In a recent edition of the St. Petersburg Times, one of the places that evoked that feeling of patriotism was Madison’s Four Freedoms Park.
The article was a feature about places to travel to in Florida during the Fourth of July to honor America. It ran in the July 3 edition of the paper. Other places featured included Kennedy Space Center, Liberty Bell Memorial Museum, the National Naval Aviation Museum and many others.
The article read, “The tiny North Florida town of Madison is home to the Four Freedoms Monument, a sculpture that, like Norman Rockwell’s series of paintings, embodies the four freedoms outlined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. Walter Russell’s sculpture of angels representing Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear was dedicated in Madison Square Garden in 1943 — so how did it wind up in Madison? It honors the town’s own Capt. Colin P. Kelly, a B-17 pilot who posthumously received the Distinguished Service Cross for a mission just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, making him one of the country’s first decorated World War II heroes. The monument is in downtown Madison, just north of Interstate 10 about 50 miles east of Tallahassee; madisoncountyfl.com.”
A previous story highlighting the park ran in an edition of the Enterprise Recorder. The article depicts the history of the park as, “The Four Freedoms Park in Madison honors a rich historical time period and marks many different successes in not only Madison history, but also the history of the United States. The land that the Four Freedoms Park currently is located on, was once the blockhouse built to protect women, children and the elderly during the Second Seminole War. This war raged up and down the Florida peninsula from Tallahassee to Lake Okeechobee and all areas between. The land that the park now uses was also used as the informal courthouse until 1840.
“In 1840 the land was donated to the city of Madison to be built into a park. The Four Freedoms Park is named after the four freedoms outlined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union address. These freedoms are the Freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. There is a marker in the southwest corner of the park that honors these four freedoms as well.”
Kristin’s Folder Sept. 9, 2011
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