Star-Struck by Silver Springs: Florida’s Most Stunning State Park
There are so many natural springs where you can swim, picnic, and enjoy wildlife in Florida, but Silver Springs State Park is bubbling with some extra excitement.
Even if you’ve never been to Silver Springs, you may have already seen it via the big screen! Remnants of its movie-set days can still be found – if you know where to look – and unlike some Hollywood personalities, the springs are pretty down to earth.
In fact, you’re invited to see just how far down via glass-bottom boat tours. Forget the hassle of obtaining a scuba license or packing your fins, this historic tour brings you nose to nose with the resident fish and migrating manatees without getting wet!
If that wasn’t wild enough, your boat tour can turn into a jungle cruise at any second because monkeys inhabit the area, too!
So, are you ready for an awesome adventure? Grab your Indiana Jones fedora and let’s go!
Silver Springs – Always in the Spotlight
Before it became a prime place for Hollywood flicks, Silver Springs still attracted people in droves. Early Spanish explorers, the Timucua people, and Seminoles all enjoyed the mossy banks and cool waters of this lush location. By the mid-1800s, with the advent of the steamboat and the railroad, “Silver Springs had become a mandatory stop on the ‘grand tour’ of Florida.”1 And at MouseEarsTV, we still include it as an essential stop on our own Central Florida Road Trip!
With its growing popularity and limitless beauty, perhaps it’s no surprise that Hollywood discovered Silver Springs, too. At least 20 movies and several television series have been filmed here, most of them involving action, adventure, and espionage! Moonraker (a James Bond film), Creature from the Black Lagoon, and six Tarzan movies used the springs as their ideal backdrop, and fans of James Dean and Gary Cooper might recognize the sparkling waters from Rebel Without a Cause or Distant Drums, respectively.
Although Silver Springs’ natural beauty is what makes it the star of the show (and your trip!), finding the manmade relics of Hollywood is also a pretty fun side-quest! To find them, you’ll have to peer into the depths of the crystal clear water.
Beneath the gently glittering waves, you’ll see statues sporting bright green algae. They appear to be ancient figures, standing sentinel over the depths of Silver Springs for centuries now – like a Florida version of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army. However, they actually only date back to the 1960s. Made for a TV series called “I Spy,” these stone statues are relics, not of the Bronze Age, but of the Silver screens golden Age.2
Today, the Florida Park Service controls the 4,000-acre property, working diligently to restore and preserve both the natural and cultural history of this amazing spring and winding river. Part of that history includes extraordinary glass-bottom boat tours!
Gliding Along in Glass Bottom Boats
The best way to see those stone statues – and much of Silver Springs’ wildlife – is with a Glass Bottom Boat Tour!
Swimming isn’t allowed in Silver Springs, but you’re more than welcome to kayak or canoe across the cerulean surface. But when it comes to seeing what’s below, we think the boat tours can’t be beat! And folks have been saying the same thing since the 1870s. These tours have been afloat for over 150 years, making them the oldest attraction in Florida!3
We have to wonder if Philip Morell, inventor of the “GBB,” knew what a sensation he was creating when he first installed that piece of glass in the bottom of his rowboat.4 It’s safe to say that Silver Springs certainly played a part in the success of his endeavor, as well as its lasting popularity. After all, these temperate waters are home to some of Florida’s neatest wildlife, which makes for an absolutely stunning tour!
Peering through the glass bottom, you’re likely to see schools of shimmering, freshwater fish, web-footed turtles, frogs, and maybe even an alligator or two! During the winter season, you might even see a few friendly manatees getting away from the chill of the Gulf. In fact, Silver Springs is often considered one of the best spots in Florida to encounter these sweet sea cows!
Each glass bottom boat tour lasts 30 minutes, although extended 90-minute tours are also available Friday through Sunday. You can book tickets ahead of time to ensure your spot, or just climb aboard a tour the day of your trip; they run every day, every half hour!
This unique experience is steeped in history and brimming with fun, aquatic friends making it an absolute must for your Silver Springs bucket list.
The Stars of Silver Springs
Despite its Hollywood connection, the Silver Springs’ spotlight is sometimes overtaken by its local, land-dwelling critters, including the show-stopping rhesus macaque monkeys!
Foxes, deer, armadillos, and even endangered gopher tortoises are common companions along the fantastic walking trails of Silver Springs State Park, and while these friends are dearly beloved, we have to admit, they can be spotted elsewhere in Florida. However, entirely unique to Silver Springs, are the monkeys.
You might be thinking they were imported during the Tarzan movies – which is a good thought! – but also a common myth. These monkeys weren’t the product of the cinema, but rather an entrepreneurial boat captain!
In 1938, Colonel Tooey ran a Jungle Cruise boat ride and built an island in the Silver River to populate with monkeys as a jungle-y gimmick. However, instead of non-swimming squirrel monkeys, Colonel Tooey received a shipment of six rhesus monkeys which happily swam off the island and wherever they pleased! While these monkeys didn’t make it into the 1939 Tarzan movie, it wasn’t for lack of trying: they reportedly screeched at the actors and filmmakers as they worked.5 (They were probably just trying to audition for parts.)
Since then the monkeys have multiplied and divided into a steady population at Silver Springs State Park where, much like Tooey’s original intention, they are viewed and enjoyed by visitors. The monkeys don’t seem to mind the attention – in fact, they seem pretty content to live in this Floridian paradise.
Have you been to Silver Springs? Did you spot a rhesus macaque or go on a glass-bottom boat tour? Keep the adventure going in the comments below!
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Photo: Wanderland via Flickr
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