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T. H. S. Class of 1962

 

STORYTELLER BIOGRAPHY

NELSON E. BAILEY

"The Florida Cracker Storyteller"

 

Nelson E. Bailey (born January 12, 1943) is a County Judge in Palm Beach County, Florida. He grew up in the small town of Tavares in central Florida, where his father was a beekeeper, which meant as a child and young man he spent much time with his father on the lands of ranchers and grove owners throughout central Florida.

Prior to becoming a County Judge, Nelson was an attorney with the Florida Department of Agriculture, an Assistant Attorney General of Florida, and then a criminal defense lawyer in private practice for 20 years in West Palm Beach. As a lawyer he handled criminal cases at every level of trial and appeals court, from County Courts to the United States Supreme Court.

Nelson has a passion for Florida Cracker History, and for storytelling. Nelson currently is the only person listed as a teller of exclusively Florida tales in the Directory of American Storytellers.

In his performances around the state as a "Florida Cracker Storyteller" of the late 1800’s, he shares his knowledge of Florida’s unique history and cultural heritage. He usually tells his stories while mounted on his horse Domino, a horse with Spanish bloodlines that go back over four hundred years in Florida -- and while accompanied by his Florida Cur cowdog, "Cooter," a working dog used to gather and hold herds of cattle.

Nelson’s Florida stories weave together a multicolored quilt of Florida history. He tells stories of Native-American mound builders prior to the 1500’s; of Spanish explorers, settlers, and ranchers in the 1500 and 1600’s; of Seminole traditions and of the Black Seminoles of the 1700 and 1800’s; and finally, of Florida’s "cowhunters" and their practices in the 1800’s and today. Not only does he talk about cowhunter ways, he demonstrates some of them with his horse, cow whip, and dog. Along the way he offers some surprising insights into Florida’s forgotten role in American history.

Nelson and his horse have traveled over much of the land about which he talks, and they have ridden alongside and "cow hunted" with the descendants of many of the Florida folks, both Cracker and Seminole, of whom he speaks.

He offers a view of the land and its people that is steeped in the real history of this place we call Florida.

Nelson and his wife Carol and their son Travis live on the family’s small farm in the small community of Loxahatchee Groves, in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Carol and Nelson

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