Year: <span>2018</span>

The Cedar Keys – Scale Key

The Cedar Keys - Scale KeyScale Key is part of the Cedar Keys chain located in Levy County. The Executive Documents of the 13th Congress 1847, which show that the Cedar Keys were reserved for occupation under The Armed Occupation Act of 1842. This act was to allow individuals with arms, to settle unoccupied lands in the Florida peninsula to help control any uprisings from the Seminole Indians that still remained in Florida….James

Salt Springs Run

Salt Creek Run Meets Lake GeorgeThe head spring, Salt Springs, gets its name from the magnesium, potassium, and sodium salts rising to the surface through ancient salt deposits. The spring is located in the town of Salt Springs. It is a second magnitude spring with a flow of over 60 cubic feet per second, having several vertical vents in a large shallow pool. Salt Springs Run is a major tributary to the St. Johns River…James

Rock Springs Run

Rock Springs RunRock Springs Run is located in Orange County, 5 miles northeast of Apopka, and 5 miles southeast of Sorrento, Fl. It is an 8-mile long run, forming the boundary between the 7,000 acre Wekiwa Springs State Park to the West and the 14,000 acre Rock Springs Run State Preserve to the North and East…James

Buckman Lock

BGA at the Buckman LockThe Buckman Lock was constructed in the mid to late 1960s as a part of the Florida Cross Barge Canal project. The project’s goal was to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico with a canal across Florida. It didn’t go well. The on-again off-again project was first conceived by King Phillip II of Spain in 1537! Throughout centuries, the project was started and stopped and in the end, it was Marjorie Harris Carr who helped bring about the official cancellation of the project in 1990.

Weeki Wachee River

The Weeki Wachee RiverThe Weeki Wachee River, located in Hernando County in the town of Weeki Wachee. It is a 12-mile long river, flowing in a westerly direction from Weeki Wachee to the Gulf of Mexico. The source is the deepest naturally occurring, first magnitude spring in the United States, discharging from 112 to 150 million gallons of water a day…James

Smokehouse Prairie

The Smokehouse PrairieThe Smokehouse Prairie is a wetland located approximately 6 miles southeast of Hawthorne, Fl and 5 miles Northwest of Orange Springs, Fl. This wetland area is well over 400 acres and is a main source of water for Gillis Pond and Lake Fanny which are on the East side of the wetland…James

Cross Creek

Cross Creek Topo MapCross Creek became well known due to the writings of author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Moving to Cross Creek in 1928, Rawlings wrote stories that exposed her fondness of rural life at ‘The Creek’ often including characters based on her relationships with her neighbors. Her most famous book was the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Yearling, published in 1938....James