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Historic Silver Springs
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Silver Springs State Park is one of the nicest parks in the state of Florida. The campground is superb and the attraction of the springs is the icing on the cake. Silver Springs has a long Florida history. It is the home of many movies including Tarzan and the Creature From the Black Lagoon. The TV series, Sea Hunt was also filmed there.
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| Glass Bottom Boats |
I visited this park in 1952 or 53 with my parents. I was 8 years old. A Tarzan movie was being filmed when we were there. I remember marveling at that beautiful springs seen through glass bottom boats. I was fascinated watching large schools of catfish fighting for a ball of bread the boat captain dropped into the water. He called it catfish football.
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| View of a spring from glass bottom boat. It really does look like silver. |
Silver Springs went through several owners over the years. Eventually it began to fall into disrepair. The glory days of the real Florida were being overshadowed by the artificial Florida seen at Disney World. Today, people demand more sophisticated entertainment, I guess.
Silver Springs State Park adjoined the land where the attraction was located. The state maintained a campground there for years. When the attraction looked like it might shut forever, the State of Florida took it over as a historic landmark. It was the right thing to do. It has been three years since the state got involved. Things have been spruced up. The glass bottom boats are still in operation.
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| Scene along kayak trail |
My boat captain on this visit told me he began working there in 1962. He was very proud of the years he has spent there guiding people out to view one of nature's natural wonders. The head spring pumps out 850 million gallons of water per day. It is pure, drinkable and clear as the air.
There is a restaurant and kayak rental concession on the grounds. We brought our own kayak along on this trip. Paddling quietly down the paddle trail we saw many birds of various kinds, turtles by the score, alligators and monkeys. There is a breeding population leftover from the movie days. It was fun watching them swinging in the trees and watching parents with their young playing on the shoreline.
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| Monkey Business |
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| Mom, Pop and the Kids |
We enjoyed the campground at this state park. It is one of the nicest in the state with large gravel sites spaced out in open forest land. There is plenty of room between sites for privacy. Each site has water and electric 20/30/50amp. There are also several full hookup sites available.
The park has miles of trails to be walked or biked. They pass through the "real Florida". You may see a bear, deer or a multitude of small animals and birds. We will go visit this park again in the future.
