By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. — When I decided to do an article for THE BROWN AGENCY’S BAHAMAS CHRONICLE online news publication on the upcoming BACK TO ANGOLA FESTIVAL in Bradenton, Florida, I had no idea that one of the principal organizers has deep roots in Stanyard Creek, Andros, where I was born and spent my boyhood days.
After placing a call to Daphney Towns, who was listed in an advertisement on Facebook promoting the festival as the contact person for further information, I not only discovered that her mother was born at Stanyard Creek, but she had only recently returned from visiting the settlement in Central Andros that’s used to be referred to as “The Garden of Andros.”
In a subsequent email, Daphney informed me that her grandmother was Lunetta Bain, who married James Riley, and her mother Margie Riley was born in Stanyard Creek, which got its name from the tranquil creek separating the settlement’s Western and Eastern Ridges that are connected by a bridge.
Small world, isn’t it?
As it turns out, one of Daphney’s relatives, Richard “Dickey Boy” Riley, built a restaurant and bar with living accommodations upstairs adjacent to my family homestead on the Western Ridge and he learned his trade as a carpenter from my father, Samuel Brown, who was a well-known carpenter and boatbuilder during his era.
Considering her rich Andros bloodline, it is therefore not surprising that Daphney is one of the main organizers of the three-day BACK TO ANGOLA festival being hosted by the Oak Tree Community Outreach, a Florida-based not-for-profit corporation, at the City of Bradenton Manatee Mineral Spring Park July 13 -15 celebrating the historic ties between Red Bays and an early 1800s Florida community known as Angola.
In an article on the festival in its June 25 edition, the Bradenton Herald noted that the Village of Red Bays “is the only settlement on the west coast of Andros Island and the historic destination of escaped slaves who settled the area after a dangerous journey to freedom. That journey included more than two decades attempting to settle the Mineral Springs area of Bradenton before being forced to flee for their lives.”
“Daphney Towns, president of Oaktree Community Outreach, began organizing the Back to Angola Festival as she began to learn about the discoveries being made to prove the existence of ‘New Angola’ at Mineral Springs,” the article said. “Those efforts have led to the Bradenton park being nominated to become part of the National Parks Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.”
The festival will feature Seminole Descendants, recording artist Clifford Bigbruh Riley, Creative Folklore Arts Company, Conquerors for Christ Junkanoo Group, wood carvers and basket weavers from Red Bays, Andros.
