Blue Spring Bucket List: The Top 3 Things You Need to Do at Florida’s Greatest State Park!
About an hour from Orlando, there is another “magic kingdom,” or rather, a magic ecosystem. Instead of a towering castle, the canopy of a forest looms above. Instead of the paved walkways of Main Street, a crystal blue waterway is your path to seeing the park. Oh, and instead of a mouse, this park’s mascot is a manatee. (Hundreds of manatees, actually!)
One of the first “tourists” of Blue Spring was William Bartram, a famous American artist, and naturalist, who explored the area in 1765-66 with his father, and again on his own in 1774. Bartram was enchanted with subtropical Florida and wanted to discover all there was to know about Britain’s newest colonial acquisition. (Although, by the time his second expedition was over, the colonies had declared independence!) Bartram began his Florida trip by exploring the St. Johns River – one of only a few major rivers in the world to flow north!1
Bartram documented all that he saw with poetic style in a book he called Travels. Although he explored eight of the southern colonies, it was his descriptions of Florida that solidified his work as a “classic.”2
His father, John Bartram, wrote about Blue Spring in his own journal, marveling that he had “Visited a very amazing large spring that boils up from between high sandhills, & immediately forms a large & very swift stream, of the clearest water.”3 Which brings us to the first item on our Blue Spring bucket list…
1. Make a Splash!
The water might seem like an obvious thing to see at Blue Spring…but do you know why? Of course, there is the beauty of it – the water is crystal clear, revealing depths of aquamarine beneath and reflections of azure from above. It’s an excellent spot for photographers, painters, or anyone who takes pleasure in the wonders of nature. There is a “panoramic view from the boardwalk. Picturesque ‘old Florida’ moss-draped oaks line the blue-green river, with fallen trees along the banks – ideal elements for composing prize-winning photography,” writes Robin Draper.4 William Bartram called Blue Spring Landing “Mount-joy,” and once you see the place for yourself, it is easy to understand why.5
But the spring water isn’t just for looks – you can also go swimming! That’s right – jump in and make a splash! While the beauty of the place might take your breath away, the water temperature won’t – it’s a perfect 72⁰F all year round.6 This warm water boils up from a limestone formation deep down below at a rate of 105 million gallons per day!7 (This enormous volume of water makes Blue Spring a “first magnitude” spring.) John Bartram said the spring boiled “like a pot!”8 Sound impressive? It should – Blue Spring is the largest spring on the St. Johns River and the second largest in the state of Florida.9
If taking a swim in the waters of the Blue Spring isn’t enough to satisfy your aquatic soul, you can also scuba dive (if certified) or snorkel (open to amateurs like me)! You might find yourself nose to nose with a Gar – seriously, they have super long noses! With their spotty, prehistoric aesthetic, they are indeed something to behold. Even though their snouts make them look like bigger liars than Pinocchio, they can’t actually open their mouths very wide. This means Gar prefers to feast on small fish at the surface, where they also gulp in air.10
You might also run into some Largemouth Bass, the heavy-weight champs who hold the title of Florida’s state freshwater fish!11 And when I say heavy-weight champs, I mean it – they can grow up to twenty inches long and weigh fifteen pounds or more! Luckily, they prey on insects and smaller fish, making them safe, if slightly intimidating, swimming companions for us humans!12
(Disclaimer and my deepest apologies to you fishers out there: fishing is NOT allowed in the Blue Spring run. You can fish off of docks along the St. Johns River with the proper permits!)
Once you’ve finished frolicking with the fish, come on out, dry yourself off, and follow me to your second bucket list item…
2. Time Travel!
Now, I can hear you saying, “hold on – time travel is impossible.” Well, let’s respectfully agree to disagree for the moment. Just keep reading, and maybe you’ll change your mind… (and hopefully add this to your Blue Spring bucket list!!)
William Bartram was nicknamed “Puc Puggy” by the Seminole Indians in Florida, which meant “flower hunter.”13 Bartram was honored by the nickname, although in reality, it might have been a bit of a put-down. Nevertheless, Bartram did an excellent job detailing the flora and fauna of Florida, both in word and illustration. But he wasn’t the only one interested in Floridian plant growth…
(Photo: MrX via Wikimedia Commons)
Louis Thursby, a European settler, came to the area in 1856 and bought Blue Spring, hoping to grow orange trees in the area and accumulate wealth. He did plant oranges, and it was one of the first orange groves on the upper St. Johns River,14 and his wife was the first postmistress of Orange City.15 Thursby also built one of the first steamboat landings, which made him quite prosperous, especially as steamship travel increased after the Civil War.16
Blue Spring Landing was the hotbed for shipping cargo (and tourists!) to Jacksonville and beyond.17 Thursby began to turn Blue Spring into a must-stop spot along the water route, and as his fortune grew, so did his taste for the finer things.
With his newfound fortune, Thursby built a two-story home called…wait for it…the Thursby House. The name might not be the most creative, but it can’t be faulted regarding longevity. The house still stands today within Blue Spring State Park and is now a museum open for tourists to visit! If you’ve ever dreamt of traveling through time, well, now’s your chance! Built in 1872, the house has been carefully restored to appear as it did during its “Golden Age,” meaning a step through its front door is a step into the past. The preserved Thursby House captures “Florida in a momentous period of transition between the frontier and modern state.”18
Although the Thursby House sounds pretty ancient at nearly 150 years old, archeological research has revealed an extensive history of Native American habitation long before that! In fact, Thursby House was built atop a “shell midden” left behind by a prehistoric society.19 A shell midden, or “kitchen midden,” is usually a heap of old clam, mussel, and oyster shells – aka a treasure trove to the archeologist.20
The shell midden beneath Thursby House is full of snail shells and speaks about the forgotten past of the Timucuan Indians who used to live there. While snail shells sound unassuming, they actually portray what life was like at Blue Spring centuries and centuries ago!
Dr. Joe Kenner, a park biologist in the 1990s, said you can imagine the Timucuans always having a pot of snails boiling because they had them for every meal! Dr. Kenner adds that it is believed the Timucuans piled up the shells intentionally to protect their houses from seasonal flooding.21 “The Timucuans were perhaps the first humans to enjoy the beauty and powerful sense of calm that lays like a heavy blanket over Blue Spring,” writes John Gholdston of the Orlando Sentinel.22
Whether he realized it or not, Louis Thursby probably used the mound for its original purpose – as a higher foundation for his home in a place of peace of tranquility! So, when you visit the Thursby House, you’ll not only get a glimpse into the 1870s, but its foundations will also transport you back even further – to a time before even William Bartram saw the Spring! Indeed, “Blue Spring State Park is a time capsule for a bygone era.”23 Once you are done exploring the past, I have one more thing for you to do in the present…
3. Fall in Love!
I can already hear you protesting – “Fall in love at a
Here’s a little action and adventure to establish some trust before we dive into the bucket list item: another anecdote of William Bartram…
Together, the father and son duo shared this harrowing experience, as recorded by John: “the alligators very numerous either on the shore or swimming on the surface of the water…so tame, or rather bold, to allow us to row very near to them.”24 I don’t know about you, but that sounds WAY too close for comfort! And if that isn’t unsettling enough, on his 1774 trip, William claimed to have seen alligators that were 20 feet long!25 (That would certainly warrant a “Crikey!” from Steve Irwin!)
To the delight of you action and adventure types out there – yes, you can still see alligators at Blue Spring State Park, but they won’t be 20 feet long, and they aren’t quite as numerous. Still, a wild alligator sighting of any size is nothing to sneeze at!! However, for those of you who feel a little squeamish – don’t worry, the main attraction is a big serving of adorableness: MANATEES!!!
You’re already in love, aren’t you?
It’s hard not to be. With their smiling whiskered faces, pudgy grey bodies, and dark doleful eyes, manatees are the puppy dogs of the sea. (Although they are actually called “sea-cows” …whatever.) The best part is, Blue Spring is the perfect place to see them! And I’m not talking about one or two. Oh, no, I’m talking about a herd of sea cows (see, I can work with it!). Hundreds of manatees come to winter at Blue Spring, where the water is always warm.
Although the manatees look adorably pudgy, the truth behind their biology is much different! They only have a layer of fat about an inch thick and super slow metabolism, so they can’t tolerate temps lower than 68⁰F for very long! This makes places like Blue Spring vital for their survival, and it’s why Blue Spring is one the largest winter gathering sites for manatees in Florida.26 (Maybe they also think it’s beautiful, too!)
Blue Spring wasn’t always the manatee hotspot it is today – back in the 1970s, the park was only averaging about 36 manatees! But now there are over five hundred. Not bad! In fact, it was Blue Spring’s role as a manatee winter refuge (highlighted by Jacque Cousteau in a documentary) that encouraged the state to buy – and protect – the park in the first place!27 For the record, Cousteau called them neither “sea cows” nor “sea puppies,” but titled the episode The Forgotten Mermaids. This is because sailors once mistook manatees for mermaids! How majestic!
The manatees benefit greatly from the warmer water, but there’s another advantage to being at Blue Spring. The park staff monitors the manatees, so if one exhibits signs of cold stress syndrome (the manatee version of hypothermia or frostbite), the staff will get the help it needs!28 Blue Spring is also a safe place to release manatees back into the wild after being rehabilitated from injury.29 Again, researchers and staff monitor these manatees to make sure they find their way in the wild world!
The help Blue Spring State Park provides the manatees is essential because manatees are a threatened species. They have no natural predators, but collisions with boats, loss of warm-water habitat, and loss of food supply (seagrass) because of pollution have endangered the species’ survival. The loss of food is especially hard on the manatees because they eat 4 to 9 percent of their body weight every day! That averages out to about 32 pounds of plants!30 (Their love of aquatic vegetation is where the nickname “sea cow” originates, by the way.)
While it seems like the manatees might be overloading on plants, the only overload going on is a cuteness overload! And if you don’t think it’s cute enough to watch manatees swimming happily in a hot spring, try baby manatees! That’s right – momma manatees bring their babies (called calves) to the safety of the spring, sometimes even giving birth here! This means you can watch the little ones frolic and play to your heart’s content!
I know you have a burning question because I had the same one: can you swim with the manatees?! As awesome as that would be, you best leave that one off your bucket list. Swimming with the manatees is strictly prohibited. While it’s a little sad, it is in the manatees’ best interest. It keeps them safe and relaxed – and at the end of the day, seeing the happiest and healthiest manatees is what it’s all about! (And if you’re really dying to cuddle a manatee, you’re in luck, because #protip: they have a plethora of plushies at the gift shop!!)
These are just three things for your Blue Spring bucket list, but there’s SO much more! Hiking trails, cruising down the St. Johns River, bird watching (special shout-out to the Florida Scrub-Jay!), and camping! Your bucket list for Blue Spring could truly be endless – so you better go start checking things off!! And don’t just take my word for it! William Bartram agrees: “The attention of the traveler should be particularly turned, in the first place, to the works of Nature.”31
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