Location: |
4150 S Suncoast Blvd, Homosassa, FL 34448.
On Highway 98 north of Tampa. (28.799302, -82.588269) |
Open: |
All year daily 9-17:30, last entry 16:45. [2022] |
Fee: |
Adults USD 13, Children (6-12) USD 5, Children (0-5) free. [2022] |
Classification: | Karst Spring |
Light: | n/a |
Dimension: | L=1.770 m, Twater=23 °C. |
Guided tours: | self guided |
Photography: | allowed |
Accessibility: | no |
Bibliography: | |
Address: | Homosassa Springs Visitor Center, 4150 S Suncoast Blvd, Homosassa, FL 34448, Tel: +1-352-423-5564. |
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info. |
1900 | train station opened. |
1920s | public swimming area created. |
1940s | first underwater observatory opened. |
1964 | property purchased by the Norris Development Company and entertainment facilities and animal exhibits added. |
1989 | attraction purchased by the Florida Park Service. |
Homosassa Springs is located at the homonymous village Homosassa Springs, Florida. The spring, the river, and the surrounding wetland are a park called Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park with an area of 60 ha. The Main Entrance of the park is at Highway 98 and has a jetty on Pepper Creek, from here visitors can either walk 1,2 km through the forest or take a boat on Pepper Creek to the West Entrance on Fishbowl drive. Around the West Entrance there are about half a dozen karst springs, the biggest and most productive is Homosassa Spring. Springs Loop is a circular walk—actually a huge eight—with an Underwater Observatory, the Garden of the Springs and a sort of Wildlife Zoo. It is one of the best sites in Florida to see manatees. Pepper Creek flows into Homosassa River, a huge stream which flows through Homosassa and then branches out into a marshy and swampy area, a bayou, which is quite typical for Florida. This area is another park called Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, and 12 km from the springs Homosassa River meets the sea.
The indigenous people lived at the spring long before the Europeans arrived. As a result of their arrival, the locals were decimated by disease and in fights with the colonists. The area was resettled by several groups of Native Americans displaced from other areas, including the Seminoles and Miccosukee.
The tourism at the spring started around 1900, when a train station was opened close to the spring. It was actually built for the transport of spring water, cedar, crabs, and fish. While the train was loaded, the passengers used the break to have a swim or picnic. Soon people used the railroad to visit to the spring, which was accessible on a short trail. In the 1920s, a public swimming area was created at the spring and the number of visitors increased. In the 1940s the first underwater observatory was opened, an iron tank with small windows on each side. Major development followed the purchase of the property by the Norris Development Company in 1964. They added entertainment facilities and animal exhibits.
Ivan Tors Animal Actors housed their trained animals at Homosassa Springs Attraction for several years. This was a company of the Hungarian actor and producer Ivan Tors, who founded a film studio today known as Greenwich Studios in Miami. He had an emphasis on non-violent stories involving animals like famous Flipper, and this company trained the animals for his TV and film productions. The most famous was the bear Buck, who was the main character on the TV show Gentle Ben. Another famous animal of them was Lu, a hippopotamus born at the San Diego Zoo in 1960, which appeared in the TV shows Daktari and Cowboy in Africa. Living at the park since 1964, he is the only animal in the park not native to Florida. He is also the oldest hippopotamus in North America, and was declared an honorary citizen of Florida by Governor Lawton Chiles in 1991.
After the land changed owners several times between 1978 and 1984, the state of Florida planned to purchase the property to create a Florida State Park. They did not have enough money at that time, so it was purchased by the Citrus County Commission and later sold to the state of Florida. The Florida Park Service, a section of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, purchased it finally in 1989 and transformed it into a State Park. It was named Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in honor of Elmyra Felburn Schiller (*1943–✝2009). She was a benefactor of the Florida state park system.
Unlike many other springs in Florida, this spring is not used for bathing or kayaking. It is a wildlife reserve and home to black bears, bobcats, white-tailed deer, American alligators, and river otters. But most famous is the group of West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) living in the spring, large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals, which are also known as sea cows. They are up to 4 m long, weigh up to 600 kg. They have paddle-like tails and look a little like dolphins with the nose of a cow. As a result of the destruction of their habitats by man, they are listed by the World Conservation Union as vulnerable to extinction. The Florida manatees are in danger of extinction because of a massive die-off of sea grass along the Atlantic coast. In early 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began a feeding program to address the situation.