zora neale hurston national museum of fine arts

I have no idea why or how this got the name "national museum of fine arts" when there's no art. I visited the museum because I was in town for the Zora Neale Hurston Festival. I walked in and out in 60 seconds. The gallery space was slightly large than your average two car garage. The "art" on display was weird. Someone took a target that you would use at a gun range and painted or copied someone's face it. Museum staff weren't engaging at all; they didn't bother to welcome us or talk about the "artist" on display. The whole thing was just bazaar.

It's not a museum about Zora but a gallery of art works. When we visited, it was showing beautiful posters for past Zora Hurston's festivals. It's also the office organizing the ZNH's yearly festival and the have all the information about it, as well as detailed info about the town and Zora's life. Very friendly and informative.

The Eatonville Zora Neale Hurston experience can be a good one if you have background knowledge of Zora's early days prior to her many moves when she lived briefly in Eatonville. Seeing the town of Eatonville itself is a wonderful experience as it is one of the first all African American towns to be independently governed. Eatonville is in the process of alot of growth concerning their connections to Zora Neale Hurston, but I feel the town and museum is worth a quick stop. The primary place to be for Zora lovers would be a drive to Ft. Pierce, where Zora lived her final days. You can see her last home, the school she taught English at and her grave that was left unmarked due to her impoverished final days until famous author Alice Walker paid for a headstone. There are people there at a local restaurant that actually had Zora as their teacher. I will review the restaurant and reveal its location in another review.

One afternoon, my wife and I decided to visit this museum that I heard about since moving to Florida 8 yrs. ago. We inserted directions into our phones and slowly began to see the unique features on the other side of the tracks? Eatonville has a beautiful entrance marquis and boasts historic homes. The library has original features and catches your eye upon encountering the town as well. My wife and I pull up to the museum only to be greeted in a 2 - car parking lot by a woman at a hot and smoking bbq pit, not 3 feet from the museum. This was like an episode from the boondocks! We entered and immediately went to the sign-in sheet. 10 secs. later, a young woman comes out, stands at a distance (10 ft) from us like we had e.coli and states, "can I help you?". I thought this was a museum, but wondered what type of other visits they receive? I confusedly stated our reason for entering the museum and her response will ring in my ears everytime I think of this place: "place you information on the sign-in sheet, donation box is next to it, and I will be with you in just a minute!" As she is stating this, she is losing eye contact and literally walking away fom my wife and I. Needless to say, we left immediately. I was embarrassed that my wife had to witness this behavior from my folk in such a historic setting. One bad employee on that afternoon(8/10/12) makes a big impression on not only well-intentioned outsiders, historians and educators, but those seeking an authentic Zora Neale Hurston experience! I wish some stereotypes weren't true, but venture at your own risk.