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Florida's State Song - The Swanee River
The Swanee River is the Florida's State Song. Stephen C. Froster wrote
this song in 1851. Foster sold his song to E.P. Christy, a businessman
who operated a series of minstrel shows after writing the song.
Foster did choose the term "Swanee" because its two-syllable
cadence would fit nicely into the music he had composed. The Swanee River
flows in a southerly direction from the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia to
the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. This river separates the Florida panhandle
from the rest of the state.