A Guide-Book of Florida and the South for Tourists, Invalids and Emigrants

At this point the river is quite narrow, and both banks are occupied by fresh-water shell-bluffs, of artificial origin. On that opposite Volusia stands Fort Butler, a place of some note in the Indian wars. Four miles above Volusia, is Dexter’s Lake, (ten miles long.) It is a famous resort for wild fowls in the fall and winter. It is surrounded by extensive marshes, cypress groves, and hammocks.

A few miles above Lake Dexter the steamer stops at the small place now called Hawkinsville, but which formerly bore the much more euphonious name of the brave Seminole warrior, Osceola, (corruption of asse heholar, sun rising). On the left bank, six miles above, is the remarkable

BLUE SPRING

This is a landing, with post office, but has no hotel. One is (of course) in contemplation. The *spring is a large and beautiful fountain of crystal clear water. It forms a basin one-fourth of a mile long, twenty-five to thirty yards wide, and ten to twenty feet deep. The water is slightly sulphurous and thermal, the temperature reaching, at times, 75 degrees Fahr. This spot was called by the English, Berrisford, and was the most southern settlement made by them while in possession of the country.

Hunting and fishing in this vicinity are remarkably fine. The back country is fertile, and some magnificent orange groves are under cultivation.

The river now narrows to a width of fifty or sixty yds. Meadows of tall grass and maiden-cane, interspersed with clumps of lofty and graceful palms diversify the scene. Through these the stream winds its tortuous channel for thirty miles. At length the steamboat reaches its destination at

ENTERPRISE,

On Lake Monroe. *Brock House, kept by Mr. J. Brock, the proprietor of the line of steamers – $3.50 per day. Several boarding-houses in the pine woods near *Watson’s.

Several high shell mounds rise on the east shore of the lake, on one of which the hotel stands. Half a mile south of it is a large sulphur spring of unusual strength, with a basin twenty-five yards in diameter. About 150 yards beyond it is a second sulphur spring of less extent, and near by, also, a source of saline waters. (As yet no provisions are made for the application of their waters to medicinal purposes).

Beyond the springs, a hill of sand and shells rises some thirty or forty feet, surmounted by an old frame building. A luxuriant sweet orange grove extends along the shore, bearing the finest fruit I ever tasted in Florida.

The medicinal waters, the rich fruit, the charming lake, the near pine woods, and the attractive hunting and fishing at this spot, render it one of the most eligible for a large sanitary establishment. But its position should not be directly on the beach, where the dazzling sand tries the eyes, and the evening dampness is painfully felt.

Across Lake Monroe, is Fort Mellon, long used as a Government store-house, and the terminus of one of the military roads which connect with the interior of the country.

Fragments of bog iron ore, and oolitic limestone, are picked up on the shore.

A small steamboat runs about once a week from Enterprise to Lake Harney (thirty miles). The channel is narrow and crooked, running through broad, grassy savannahs and hammocks. The first bluff above Lake Monroe is called Leneer’s. It is on the left bank.

Occasional trips are made to Salt Lake, thirty miles above Lake Harney. Its waters are brackish, rather, I think, from its contiguity to the sea, than from any salt springs. It is only seven miles from Indian river lagoon. Probably this is the only example in the world of a large river, at a distance of nearly 300 miles from its mouth, flowing within seven miles of the ocean into which it empties. When the water is high, small steamers and row-boats have passed beyond Salt Lake, sixty miles to Lake Washington. No settlements are on the river, however, higher up than Lake Harney.

The source of the St. John is unknown. Its head waters probably lose themselves in vast marshes, from which flow sluggish streams northward to it, southward into Lake Okeechobee, and westward into the Kissimmee river. The determination of this geographical point would be interesting, though perhaps of no great practical value. Yet, one cannot help feeling astonished that the sources of this river, on which the first colony north of Mexico was founded, which traverses the oldest settled State of our Union, and which has been alternately possessed by three powerful nations, are more completely unknown and unexplored than those of the Nile or the Niger.

NEW SMYRNA

This small settlement of half a dozen houses, is on Musquito lagoon, or Halifax river. It is reached by a rather rough-traveling weekly stage from Enterprise, for the immoderate sum of $8.00 a head. Board can be obtained of Mrs. Sheldon. New Symrna was laid out by Dr. Turnbull, during the English occupancy of Florida, and hither he brought his colony of Greeks, Minorcans, and Italians, as I have previously related. The marks of their faithful industry are still discernible. Turtle Mound, on the west bank of the Lagoon, near the town, is one of the most remarkable shell-mounds, or “Kitchen-middens” in Florida. I have described it in my “Notes on the Floridian Peninsula,” page 178. There are a number of other equally curious remains of a similar character in the vicinity.

A hundred years ago nearly the whole of the bluff along the river, about half a mile wide, and nearly forty in length, was one vast orange grove.

A mail boat leaves here for Indian river every second week.

INDIAN RIVER

Persons wishing to visit Indian river for camp hunting, should hire an open boat, guide, and tent, (if the latter is deemed necessary), at Jacksonville, and bring them to Enterprise on the steamer. From that point they can row to Lake Harney in two days, where the boat and tent can be carried across to Sand Point, on Indian river, on an ox team. Col. H. F. Titus has a store and dwelling at Sand Point, and accommodates tourists either with his team or his table. The distance from the Point to Enterprise is forty miles; to Lake Harney twenty-two miles, and to Salt Lake seven miles. A hack sometimes runs to Lake Harney during the winter season (fare $4.00), which delivers the mail at the Point.

Indian river is properly a lagoon, or arm of the sea. Its waters contain about two-thirds as much salt as those of the ocean. In width it varies from one to four miles. Its western shore is marshy, with hammocks. About half a mile from the water runs a ridge, averaging half a mile across, covered with pines, oak, and palmettos. At places this ridge approaches to the water’s edge, and offers first-class camping grounds. It varies in height, one point having been determined at fifty-two feet above tide level by the United States coast survey. That portion known as the Indian Garden, is about forty feet high, and was formerly thoroughly cultivated by the natives and the Spaniards. All the ridge could readily be made extremely productive. The oranges of Indian river are equal to the best brought from Havana. A single orchard is said to return to its owner not less than $20,000 a year.

Here again the difficulty of access meets one. The Fort Pierce channel, the deepest of the outlets of Indian river, has but six or seven feet of water at high tide, and it is so filled with sand and oyster shells that navigation is difficult for vessels drawing over three feet.

SANTA LUCIE,

One hundred miles below Sand Point, is near the outlet. The intervening shore is very thinly scattered with settlers, but abounds in unequalled hunting and fishing. Santa Lucie is the county seat of Brevard county. It boasts a post office, store, and two or three houses. Mr. Frank Smith is postmaster, and cheerfully gives information or furnishes accommodation to the few tourists who wander thus far from civilized life.

SANTA LUCIE RIVER

Commences twenty miles further south. It, too, is a salt water lagoon. Formerly a water connection existed between this and Indian river, but now it is closed. Santa Lucie river is principally famous for the numbers, size, and flavor of its turtles. Fort Capron is on its west side. At this point there is a post office, kept by Captain James Payne, who will give any information wished for about the locality.

The mail along this coast is carried from St. Augustine to Jupiter Inlet in boats, and thence ninety miles along the beach to Miami on Key Biscayne Bay by a man on foot. For the whole of this latter distance there is but one house, and no fresh water is to be had for a horse. The messenger is allowed four days for his journey. From Miami, which I shall speak of in a subsequent route, the letters are carried to Key West by schooner.

5. – JACKSONVILLE TO TALLAHASSEE, QUINCY AND ST. MARKS

(Tallahassee, and Pensacola & Georgia, and Florida, Atlanta & Gulf Central railways. Time 14 hours, one train daily.)

The train leaves Jacksonville following the old military road, and soon enters open pine woods. The first station is White House (eleven miles). The next (eight miles) is Baldwin, (Florida House, M. Colding Proprietor). Here the Florida railway connects for Fernandina, Cedar Keys, Gainesville, and other points in East Florida.

Beyond Baldwin the train passes over a swampy country intersected by numerous creeks flowing northward into the St. Mary’s river, which near here makes its South Prong far to the south. Sanderson, (eighteen miles) is an insignificant station. Olustee (ten miles) is a rising village in the midst of a wide level tract, (no hotel; board at private houses $1.50 to $2.00 a day.) Ocean Pond, half a mile from the road (right hand side), is a handsome sheet of water, nearly circular, about four miles in diameter. It is deep, and offers excellent fishing.

LAKE CITY

(twelve miles; two tolerable hotels, $3.00 per day, $15. per week; newspaper, Lake City Press; telegraph office) is a promising place of several hundred inhabitants. Three miles south of the city is Alligator Lake, a body of water without any visible outlet. In the wet season it is three or four miles across, but in winter it retires into a deep sink hole, and the former bottom is transformed into a grassy meadow.

Welborn

Is the next stopping place (twelve miles. The Griffin House, and several boarding houses; $1.50 per day, $6.00 per week). It is a prosperous village of 150 inhabitants. The water is good, and the neighborhood healthy. Its height above tide water is 200 feet.

Stages leave Welborn daily for the *White Sulphur Springs, on the Suwannee river, eight miles north of the station (fare $2.00). These springs are a favorite resort for persons suffering from rheumatism and skin diseases. They have been estimated to discharge about three hundred hogsheads a minute. The *hotel, ($3.00 per day, $12.00 per week, $40.00 per month,) accommodating seventy-five guests, stands within a few yards of the Suwannee river, there a pretty stream about fifty yards wide. There is also a private boarding house near by. Dr. A. W. Knight, of Maine, resides at the hotel, and will be found an intelligent physician. There is good fishing in the river, and as the county is but sparsely settled, small game is abundant. Horses can be had for $2.00. The basin of the spring is ten feet deep, and 30 feet in diameter; the stream runs about a hundred yards and then empties into the river.

Leaving Welborn, the train passes Houston, (five miles), and reaches Live Oak (six miles.) Here the morning train stops for dinner. A good table is set by Mr. Conner, who keeps the hotel ($3 per day, $12.50 per week, $30.00 per month. Boarding, Mrs. M. A. McCleran, $25.00 per month, Mrs. Goodbread, $1.00 per day, $20.00 per month; Newspaper, Live Oak Advertizer; Churches, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist.) At this point a connecting railway diverges north to Lawton, Ga., on the main line of the Atlantic and Gulf R. R. Live Oak to Savannah, $9.00. Live Oak has at present about 250 inhabitants, and is a growing place. The country in the vicinity is the usual limestone soil of Middle Florida, covered with pine. Peaches flourish very well, and the soil is reasonably productive.

The Lower Spring, on the banks of the Suwannee river, eight miles north of Live Oak, is reached by trains twice daily on the road to Lawton. Its waters are sulphurous, and it is a favorite resort for certain classes of invalids. The accommodations are passable.

Beyond Live Oak, is Ellaville, (thirteen miles, formerly called Columbus), near the Suwannee. This river is comparatively narrow, and divides at this point into its east and west branches.

The next station (fifteen miles) is Madison, the county seat of Madison county (Madison hotel). The village is half a mile from the depot, located on a plain bordering on a small lake.

Beyond this are Goodman station, (fourteen miles), Aucilla, (seven miles), and the Junction (seven miles). At the latter a railway four miles in length diverges to

MONTICELLO,

The county seat of Jefferson county.

Hotels.– Monticello house, kept by Mrs. Madden, accommodates about thirty guests, $2.00 a day, $30.00 to $40.00 a month; Godfrey House. The village has a population of about 700. It is pleasantly located and regularly laid out, the court house occupying a square in the center of the town. There are four churches, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist. There is an academy of nearly 150 pupils, part of the support of the institution being drawn from the Southern Educational Fund, provided by the banker, Mr. Peabody. A flourishing colored school is also in the vicinity. Lake Mickasukie, an extensive body of fresh water, is about three miles distant.

The climate of this part of Florida is dry and equable, and the soil the very best upland pine. Many invalids would find it a very pleasant and beneficial change from the sea coast or the river side, and immigrants would do well to visit it. Game and fish are abundant, and the sportsman need never be at a loss for occupation.

Leaving the Junction, the train stops at Lloyd’s (nine miles), Chavies, (six miles), and finally at

TALLAHASSEE

Hotels.– City Hotel, Hagner house, about $3.00 a day.

Newspapers.– The Floridian and Journal, Democrat, an old established and ably conducted paper; the Tallahassee Sentinel, Republican, likewise well edited.

Churches of most denominations.

The capital of Florida is a city of about 3000 inhabitants, situated on a commanding eminence in the midst of a rolling and productive country. The name is probably a compound of the Greek talofah, town, and hassee, sun. The site was chosen in 1823 by three commissioners, of whom Colonel John Lee Williams, the subsequent historian of Florida, was one. In the following year the first house was erected. A pleasant stream winds along the eastern part of the town, and tumbles over a limestone ledge in a little cataract. The capitol is a brick building, stuccoed, with a handsome center reached by a broad flight of steps, and with spacious wings. It was built by the United States during the territorial government. It stands in the center of the town surrounded by a large open square. The usual chambers for the legislative, judicial, and executive bodies are found here.

In one of the offices a curious piece of antiquity is preserved. It is the fragments of a complete suit of ancient steel armour ploughed up in a field near Monticello. From its appearance it is judged to date from the sixteenth century, lies twenty-four miles west of Tallahassee, (fare $1.50), the present terminus of the railroad. (Pop. 1,000).

QUINCY

Hotels.– Willard’s, in the centre of the town, and Wood’s, at the railroad depot. Both $2.50 per day – $10.00 a week.

Boarding House.– *Mrs. Ann Innes; same prices.

Churches.– Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Methodist.

Newspaper.– The Quincy Monitor, a well conducted Journal.

The vicinity is a rolling, pine country, with limestone sub-soil. Plenty of marl is found, suitable for fertilizing. Cotton, corn, tobacco, and vines are cultivated with success. There is an agricultural association, of which Judge C. H. Dupont is president. Some caves and other natural curiosities are found in the vicinity.

Stages run from Quincy to Chatahoochee, tri-weekly; fare $5.00 – twenty miles – an exhorbitant charge. The boarding house in Chatahoochee, $2.00 per day. The steamer from Columbus and Bainbridge, Ga., touch at Chatahoochee daily; fare to Apalachicola, $5.00.

TALLAHASSEE TO ST. MARKS

By St. Marks Railroad – distance twenty-one miles; time, one hour and thirty minutes. There is no hotel at St. Marks, and but one boarding house, that of Mrs. Eliza Barber, $3.50 per day, $12.00 per week. There are excellent hunting and fishing in this vicinity, and boats can be hired at very reasonable prices, but horses are scarce. The town is an old Spanish settlement, and some remains of the ancient fortifications are still visible in the vicinity. It was first settled under the name of San Marcos de Apalache, in 1718, by Don Joseph Primo. At one time it was a port of some promise, but has now fallen into insignificance.

It is situated at the junction of the St. Marks and Wakulla rivers. The latter stream is ten miles in length, and takes its rise in the famous *Wakulla fountain. The name is the Creek word wankulla, (n-nasal) South. It is a remarkable curiosity, and should be visited by those who have the time. The most pleasant – and most expensive – means is to hire a carriage at Tallahassee, from which the spring is seventeen miles distant.

The country in the vicinity is low and flat, covered with dense groves of cypress, liveoak, &c. The spring is oval in shape, about thirty yards in diameter, and quite deep. On the eastern side is a rocky ledge, whence the stream issues. The water is cool, impregnated with lime, and of a marvellous clearness. Troops of fishes can be seen disporting themselves in the transparent depths.

Mr. Wise, of the Coast Survey, found bottom at eighty feet, the lead being plainly visible at that depth. In the same vicinity the Ocilla, Wacilla, and Spring Creek Springs are likewise subterranean streams, which boil up from great depths in fountains of perfect clearness.

NEWPORT,

A few miles from St. Marks, on the St. Marks river, was at one time a place of considerable summer resort, but is now but little visited. Near by is a natural bridge, over the river, which is esteemed sufficiently curious to attract occasional visitors.

6. THE OKLAWAHA RIVER AND THE SILVER SPRING

Boats leave Jacksonville and Palatka every Thursday for Lake Griffin. Time from Palatka to Silver Spring, forty hours; fare, $5.00; distance, 100 miles. The boats are necessarily small, and the accommodations limited.

The Oklawaha, so called from one of the seven clans of the Seminoles, falls into the St. John opposite the town of Welaka. It is only within a few years that, at a considerable expenditure, it has been rendered navigable. Its mouth is hardly noticed in ascending the St. John.

At Welaka, leaving the broad, placid bosom of the former river, the little steamer enters a narrow, swift and tortuous stream, overhung by enormous cypresses. Its width is from twenty to forty yards, and its depth from fifteen to twenty feet. Natural, leafy curtains of vines and aquatic plants veil its banks.

Twelve miles from the mouth the boat passes

DAVENPORT’S BLUFF,

On the right bank, where there are a few houses. Above this point the “Narrows” commence and extend eight miles. The river is divided into numerous branches, separated by wet cypress islands. Dense, monotonous forests of cypress, curled maple, black and prickly ash, cabbage trees, and loblolly bays shut in the stream on both sides.

Seventeen miles above Davenport’s Bluff are the

*BLUE SPRINGS

These rise in the river itself about four feet from the right bank. They are warmer than the river water, and when seen in the sun’s rays have a dark blue tinge. They have never been analyzed.

Nine miles above these springs the pine woods abut on the river, and there is a settlement on the right hand bank called

FORT BROOKE

This is within two miles of *Orange Spring, a sulphur spring, with strongly impregnated waters, but at present without accommodations for travelers. It is to be hoped that this will not continue, as it is one of the most admirable of the many medicinal springs of Florida.

Twelve miles above is near where the waters of Orange Lake drain into the river.

PAINE’S LANDING,

One and a half miles beyond is a settlement with the pretty name Iola. A few miles further up “forty foot Bluff” commences, which skirts the river several miles, here and there separated from it by cypress groves.

As the steamer ascends, the banks become higher, pines more frequent along the shore, and cultivated fields more numerous.

At length, at a distance of 100 miles from the mouth of the river, the crystal current of *Silver Spring Run, here as large as the river itself above the junction, pours into the coffee-colored waters of the Oklawaha. The Run is ten miles in length, with extensive savannas on either side, shut in by a distant wall of pines. In the spring months these savannas are covered with thousands of beautiful and fragrant flowers.2 The stream is rapid, with an average width of 100 feet, and a depth of twenty feet. The water is perfectly clear, so that the bottom is distinctly visible. At places, it is clothed with dark green sedge, swaying to and fro in the current; at others, ridges of grey sand and white shells offer a pleasant contrast.

The Spring-head forms an oval basin, 150 yards long, 100 feet wide, and forty feet deep. The water gushes from a large opening about 5 feet high, and fifteen feet long, under a ledge of limestone at the north-eastern extremity. It is free from any unpleasant taste, has a temperature of 73 degrees Fah., and is so transparent that a small coin can be distinctly seen on the bottom of the deepest part of the basin. When the basin is seen with the sunbeams falling upon it at a certain angle their refraction gives the sides and bottom the appearance of being elevated and tinged with the hues of the rainbow.

Some observations I took about a mile below the basin, with a three inch log, at a time when the water was at an average height, show that this fountain throws out about three hundred million gallons every twenty-four hours, or more than twenty times the amount consumed daily by New York city.

At Silver Spring stages meet the boat for

OCALA,

The county seat of Marion co., nine miles distant. The intervening country is rolling, with pine woods and hammocks. Ocala is a neat town, with about 300 inhabitants, two hotels, $1.50 per day, $25.00 per mo.; several boarding houses; two newspapers, East Florida Banner; livery stable; physician, Dr. T. P. Gary; several churches; mail three times a week by stage to Gainesville on the Florida R. R., fare for one passenger to Gainesville, $6.00; mail stage to Tampa.

This portion of the State impresses the visitor favorably, and is well adapted for sugar cane and fruit, but it is cursed with malarial fevers of severe type. A few miles south of the town are the remains of Fort King, a military post in the Seminole war, and six miles south, near the road to Tampa, there is a cave of some size in the limestone rock.

Returning now to the Oklawaha, and pursuing our journey up that river, no change in the monotony of the cypress swamp occurs for about sixteen miles above Silver Spring run. At this distance is the small settlement Cow Ford. Beyond it the cypress disappears, and a savanna covered with dense saw grass stretches on either side for one or two miles from the river. This portion of the river has been but recently cleared and it was not till early in 1868 that the first steamboats could make their trips through this part. The chief difficulty encountered was the floating islands which covered the river, sometimes so thickly that no sign of its course was visible. They were composed mainly of the curious aquatic plant the pistia spathulata. These had to be sawed in pieces and the fragments suffered to float down, or fastened to the shore.

After passing through these savannas some miles the boat enters Lake Griffin, a narrow lake about nine miles long. Several thriving settlements are on its banks, which present a diversity of soil, swamp, hammock, and pine land.