TRAVEL
Florida has "))-odd springs, more than any place in the
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planet. lmost "E,))) years ago, when the peninsula
emerged from the sea for the last time, the limestone
cap underneath the land surface trapped salt water between
its rocks. Over the millennia Florida’s hammering rains
forced the salt water down under the fresh water* now the
fresh water 9oats on this Ice ge sea, replenished by groundwater
that descends through the limestone filter. Springs
happen when the pressure of the aquifer forces water up
through deep fissures to the surface. The force can be astonishing:
Wakulla Springs pumps >)),))) gallons per minute
into the Wakulla River.
Florida’s springs have lyrical names: 8omosassa, 4ystic,
2ithia, Wacissa, Satsuma. Or plain odd names: Jorte5 Blue
Spring, Panama 4ineral Spring, 3onvict Spring. The ma%ority
are in the northern half of the state, in the deep woods or
surrounded by a state or national forest, quiet and solitary, at
most used by local people as a swimming hole in the hellacious
heat of summer. But some springs are among Florida’s
earliest tourist attractions. In the late !<)s, Gncle Tom’s
3abin author 8arriet Beecher Stowe and a party of worthy
New Englanders who’d moved south to do Good Works and
help rectify the lousy attitudes of defeated Cnot that they’d
admit itD 3onfederates, went on a boat tour of Silver Springs
in 4arion 3ounty. The Rev. ?ohn Swaim of New ?ersey
swooned over the iridescent waters, “like 9ashes of the
urora Borealis,” he said.
In !E!, a fellow named 8ullam ?ones replaced the bottom
of a dugout canoe with a glass viewing bo5. The glass bottomed
boat was born. 2ocals began to give tours of Silver
Springs. By the !=)s, there was a fancy tourist hotel near the
main spring and national marketing touting the diamondclear
waters with their fish, turtles, and ancient fossils. Silver
Springs became one of Florida’s signal destinations, at least
as popular as 3ypress Gardens, the Parrot ?ungle and 4iami
Beach. In the =#)s, )) episodes of the classic 2loyd Bridges
TJ series “Sea 8unt” were made at the springs. There was
something so miraculous in this limpid, light-filled water
that magnified everything in it, that people would come
from thousands of miles away. The glassy cold waters, as
much as the fuzzy-headed palms, the pink hibiscus, the vermilion
sunsets, meant Florida for them–and that is to
say, Paradise.
he glass-ottom oat =hief aholo makes its way through Silver Springs, which is also an amusement park, top.
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