TRAVELERS FROM FAR AND WIDE VISIT

FLORIDA’S BEACHES EACH YEAR, BUT ONE OF THE

STATE’S EARLIEST TOURIST ATTRACTIONS WAS LOCATED

AT A SITE NEAR THE SUWANNEE RIVER.

LONG REVERED FOR ITS HEALING POWERS,

WHITE SPRINGS EMERGED AS A TOURIST DESTINATION

SHORTLY AFTER BRYANT AND ELIZABETH SHEFFIELD BOUGHT

THE LAND SURROUNDING THE SPRINGS IN 1835.

MR. SHEFFIELD SPREADWORD ABOUT THE SPRINGS’ BENEFICIAL EFFECTS ON HIS HEALTH, AND VISITORS SOON CAME SEEKING RELIEF FROM NUMEROUS AILMENTS.

A LOG HOTEL WAS ERECTED NEXT TO THE SPRING, AND

BY THE LATE 1800s, TOURISTS TRAVELED BY SPECIAL TRAIN

TO SWIM IN THE HEALING WATERS AND ENJOY WHITE

SPRINGS’ 14 LUXURY HOTELS AND BUSTLING BUSINESS DISTRICT.

WITH MANY BUILDINGS FROM THAT PERIOD REMAINING, THE WHITE

SPRINGS HISTORIC DISTRICT WAS PLACED ON THE NATIONAL

REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES IN 1997.

TODAY, VISITORS TO WHITE SPRINGS ENJOY THE BEAUTY AND

TRANQUILITY OF THIS HISTORIC SUWANNE RIVER TOWN, WHICH

HOSTS THE FLORIDA FOLK FESTIVAL EACH MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.

Courtesy of the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources