Mike and I went to visit his sister and Mom in Ocala, Florida and they introduced us to the Silver Springs and we feel in love. This park is so tranquil and stunningly beautiful.
I did a little research and humans have been visiting Silver River for at least 10,000 years, dating back to the first Neolithic people in Florida. Later came the Timucua, followed by Spanish explorers and missionaries as well as the Seminoles.
By 1850, Silver Springs had become a commercial distribution center for Central Florida. Pole barges and later, steamships plied back and forth on the Silver and Ocklawaha Rivers, moving supplies and crops. Plantations growing vegetables, tobacco and oranges sprang up along the banks as nearby Ocala grew.
In the years right after the American Civil War, Silver Springs began to attract tourists from the North via steamboats up the Silver River. Hart Line and Lucas Line steamboat companies competed for the privilege of transporting visitors to the headwaters of the Silver River, to the point of holding passenger-laden races upriver to the Springs! Railroads also entered service bringing ever-growing numbers of admirers. Silver Springs had become a mandatory stop on the “grand tour” of Florida.
Then, in the late 1870s, Hullam Jones and Phillip Morrell fixed a piece of glass to the bottom of a rowboat. History was made and a new enterprise was born. Silver Springs’ Glass Bottom Boat tours began their more than century-long reign of world fame! We had plans to go on a boat tour but strong winds and a small craft advisory prevented us from getting on the water. We enjoyed walking around the park and seeing the beautiful scenery.
In 2013, the Florida Park Service took control of the property, merging it with the adjacent Silver River State Park, forming our present Silver Springs State Park.
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