“Wish You Were Here”
Overall Historic State Park Real Florida Guide
Day 1: Begin your journey at Edward Ball Wakulla
Springs State Park, home to one of the largest
and deepest freshwater springs in the world. This
park has abundant wildlife, including alligators,
turtles, deer and birds. River boat tours bring nature
comfortably closer, providing excellent opportunities
for wildlife viewing and stunning photos. Swimming
is a popular activity during the hot summer months
in the spring’s sparkling 71-degree water. Wakulla
Springs Lodge has retained its historic charm
with painted cypress ceilings, period furnishings and an old soda fountain serving up
nostalgia by the scoop. It’s like stepping into a bygone era. Build up an appetite strolling
the shady nature trail along the upland wooded areas of the park and then dine in the
historical dining room overlooking the springs.
From a tourist standpoint, Wakulla Springs became
a popular destination in the late 1800s, and glass
bottom boat tours began around 1925. The spring
was developed more heavily as an attraction when
Ed Ball, Florida businessman and brother-in-law of
billionaire Alfred I. DuPont, purchased the spring
and 4,000 acres of the surrounding property in
1934. Ball built a Mediterranean Revival style lodge
overlooking the spring in 1937 and hired Newton
Perry to manage and promote the property. Perry developed several short underwater
lms that piqued the interest of prospective visitors and he succeeded in luring in
Hollywood, too.
Johnny Weismuller, a former Olympic swimmer and the most famous of the Tarzan
actors, was featured in parts of two movies lmed at the springs—“Tarzan’s Secret
Treasure” and “Tarzan’s New York Adventure.” Parts of “Creature from the Black
Lagoon,” “Airport 77” and “Joe Panther” were also lmed at the springs.
Spend a restful night at the Wakulla Springs Lodge,
and if visiting between mid-August to October, watch for
migratory chimney swifts plunging into their nighttime
roost, one of the Lodge’s unused chimneys. This amazing
spectacle takes place for several weeks in the spring
as the birds are migrating north and from mid-August to
October as they migrate south to the Amazon basin.
Day 2: Drive about three hours to Silver Springs State Park, your home base for two
nights.
Silver Springs has been a popular attraction in Florida for more than 150 years, starting
when 19
th
century steamboats churned up the Ocklawaha and Silver rivers with throngs
of visitors. Most historians believe glass-bottom boats were invented at Silver Springs
in the 1870s and they remain popular to this day with tourists. During its heyday, Silver
Springs featured much more than glass-bottom and jungle boat tours. The Ross Allen
Reptile Institute held demonstrations and lectures with snakes, alligators, crocodiles and
turtles and a fan favorite was the “milking” of rattlesnakes for their venom, to be used to
make anti-venom.
A Seminole camp and pioneer village were built and manned by Seminole Indians and
living history interpreters, and a replica of Fort King from the Second Seminole War was
erected. During segregation, Paradise Park was established about a mile downstream
for use by African-Americans. Eventually, animal exhibits, rides and a water park
(opened in 1978) were added, too.
Rhesus monkeys were introduced into the attraction
in the 1930s. A tour boat operator, “Colonel Tooey,”
released them on an island as an exotic bonus for
visitors on the jungle boat tours, but Tooey didn’t
realize that rhesus monkeys are good swimmers.
The primates escaped and began reproducing.
They’ve been a curious anomaly—and periodic
management nuisance—ever since (please don’t
feed!).
With the emergence of mega-theme parks in the Orlando area, visitors began to bypass
Silver Springs and the attraction fell on hard times from a business standpoint. In 2013,
the Florida Park Service began operating the property. Visitors can also access what
is referred to as the River Side of the park on the other side of the springs and enjoy
hiking, o-road bicycling and horseback riding. A campground and rental cabins are
available, and one can visit the pioneer cracker village and Silver River Museum and
Environmental Education Center.
Day 3: Drive about an hour to De Leon Springs State Park in time for breakfast and
make your own pancakes at the table in the popular Old Spanish Mill Restaurant. This
is a very popular park on weekends and during the summer so consider a visit during
Florida’s pleasant cooler months to avoid crowds. While waiting for a place in the
restaurant, stroll the short nature trail or enjoy a 50-minute eco/history boat tour of the
Spring Garden Run aboard the M/V Acuera. The tour boat is wheelchair-accessible with
parking nearby.
In the 1880s DeLeon Springs had become a winter resort, and tourists were promised
“a fountain of youth impregnated with a deliciously healthy combination of soda and
sulphur.” In 1953, the resort was developed as an attraction, adding gardens, jungle
cruise and a water circus with “Queenie,” an elephant on water
skis. In 1982, the state of Florida purchased the property and it
became De Leon Springs State Park.
The Visitor Center features exhibits and artifacts reecting many
layers of the park’s rich history. The swimming area with year-
round 72-degree water is adjacent to a beautiful, shady picnic
ground. Canoe, kayak and paddleboat rentals are available
for a paddling throughout the year. De Leon Springs ows into
the Lake Woodru National Wildlife Refuge where paddlers
can explore 18,000 acres of lakes, creeks and marshes, with
excellent shing and birding opportunities. The park is a site on
the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail and many wading
birds are present in the spring run.
De Leon Springs oers a shady, half-mile paved nature trail that is wheelchair
accessible. This trail passes through a ood plain hammock with many hardwoods,
pines and other plants native to this area, including a cypress tree that is more than
500 years old. A portion of the 1,000-mile Florida National Scenic Trail runs through the
park.
An interesting side trip would be to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park (1
hour 20 minute drive from De Leon Springs), eat dinner at the nearby historic Yearling
Restaurant and return to Silver Springs for the night. Visitors to Marjorie Kinnan
Rawlings old Florida homestead can walk back in time to 1930s farm life where she
lived and worked in the tiny community of Cross Creek. Her cracker style home and
farm, where she wrote her Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Yearling and other wonderful
works of ction, has been restored and is
preserved as it was when she lived here. The
park is open every day and visitors may tour
the house with a ranger in period costume
from October through July on Thursday, Friday,
Saturday and Sunday.
Day 4: Travel to Weeki Wachee State Park,
about a two hour drive from Silver Springs.
Park admission includes a Mermaid Show at
11 a.m. or 3 p.m., a river boat cruise, and visit to the Buccaneer Bay Water Park. Or rent
a kayak or canoe and paddle the crystal clear Weeki Wachee River where manatee may
be seen.
An iconic old Florida roadside attraction, the
mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs have delighted
visitors since 1947. Today, visitors can still witness
the magic of the mermaids, gazing into the stunning
backdrop of a rst magnitude spring in a 400-seat
submerged theatre.
Next drive about 30 minutes to Ellie Schiller
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and catch
one of the entertaining animal shows or enjoy a
boat tour. Visitors can see manatees every day of the year from the park’s underwater
observatory in the main spring and manatee programs are oered three times daily. The
park is a wildlife rehabilitation center and showcases native Florida wildlife, including
manatees, black bears, bobcats, white-tailed deer, American alligators, American
crocodiles and river otters. At the Wildlife Encounter programs, snakes and other native
animals are featured. The park features a children’s education center, providing hands-
on experiences about Florida’s environment. Transportation from the visitor center on
U.S. 19 to the West Entrance is available by tram or boat.
Drive to Rainbow Springs State Park for the
night (40 minute drive)
Day 5: Explore Rainbow Springs State Park
where archaeological evidence indicates
that people have been using this spring for
nearly 10,000 years. From the 1930s through
the 1970s, Rainbow Springs was the site
of a popular, privately-owned attraction. As
the attraction grew, the river was dredged
for glass bottom boat tours; and waterfalls were built on piles of phosphate tailings. A
zoo, rodeo, gift shops and a monorail with leaf-shaped gondolas were added. In the
mid-1970s, when larger theme parks lured the tourists away, Rainbow Springs was
closed. In the mid-1990s, it reopened as a state park. In 1972, the U.S. Department of
the Interior designated Rainbow Spring, Florida’s fourth largest spring, as a National
Natural Landmark. It is also an aquatic preserve and an Outstanding Florida Water.
Paddling or tubing the crystal-clear Rainbow River is popular and visitors are
encouraged to enjoy it during Florida’s pleasant winter months or on weekdays when
the river is less crowded.
The entrance to the Rainbow Springs State Park campground is located on S.W.
180th Avenue Road about two miles north of County Road 484 and two miles south of
State Road 40. The campground is about a nine miles distance from the Headsprings
Entrance which is located three miles north of Dunnellon on the east side of U.S. 41.
Access the Headsprings Entrance for a leisurely stroll through the former attraction
with shady gardens laced with azaleas, oaks and magnolias. The walkways pass by
three man-made waterfalls and a native plant garden. While every season has much
to oer, the February and March bloom of azaleas is a popular time to visit the park.
The walkways are a mixture of brick, concrete and asphalt surfaces. While historically
unique and oering great views of both river and gardens, the pathways were
constructed prior to American Disabilities Act guidelines and are steep and uneven in
places.
A native garden, which is a special attraction to butteries and hummingbirds, lies
behind the cultural gardens. A nature trail winds back behind the gardens through
natural oak hammock and sandhill communities. This trail oers both river and
phosphate pit overlooks and is approximately 2.5 miles long from the Visitors’ Center.
