White Springs

The town of White Springs sits on the eastern shore of the Suwannee River in the southeastern corner of Hamilton County. Today the town is a quiet, sleepy community with a population of less than a thousand. While the annual folk festival draws thousands to the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park on the town’s edge once a year, on the average day the streets and the park are fairly quiet. However, things were once quite different.

The Timucuan tribe, the first recorded residents of the area (as documented by Spanish explorers of the 1500s), considered the springs to be sacred and to contain healing properties. While European settlers displaced the Native Americans who once called this area home, they retained the local belief in the healing powers of the springs. Plantation owners Bryant and Elizabeth Sheffield purchased the property in the 1830s, and were the first to market the springs' purported health benefits, including treatment of nervousness, kidney disease, and rheumatism. They named the springs Upper Mineral Springs and constructed a log springhouse and hotel. For this reason, the springs are considered by many to have been Florida’s first tourist attraction.

The original springhouse, photographed in the 1890s (source)

The Civil War and the following Reconstruction period stifled the town’s burgeoning tourist industry. However, the 1880s saw the beginning of a massive influx of tourists to Florida for the purpose of “taking the waters” at various high mineral content springs throughout the state. (I have written previously about such tourist destinations as Suwannee Springs, Worthington Springs, and Hampton Springs.) At this time, the springs and the community which had sprung up nearby were renamed White Springs. The connection of the town to nearby rail lines spurred the growth of the town’s tourist industry. In 1903, the spring was enclosed in a three-story bathhouse constructed from coquina and concrete; the bathhouse contained changing rooms, doctors’ offices, concessions facilities, and even an elevator. Fourteen luxury hotels, numerous boardinghouses, and all the amenities of a modern community of the time sprang up around the springs.

Hamilton Hotel, ca1900 (source)

Colonial Hotel, early 1900s (source)

Hotel Jackson, ca1920 (source)

Telford Hotel, ca1903 (source)

Interior of the springhouse, ca1910 (source)

Exterior of the springhouse, 19?? (source)

Today, only one of the fourteen hotels remains (and it is closed and up for sale at the time of this writing), and few of the community’s “downtown” structures remain. The spring itself stopped flowing in the mid-1990s, although in recent years heavy downpours have triggered short periods of spring-flow. The springhouse, located adjacent to the entrance to the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, can be explored to this day, although it is now only one story, and a shadow of its former glory.

Telford Hotel, currently closed and for sale by owner

Downtown structures on Bridge Street

Adams Country Store, est 1885

Many of the town's old homes are still maintained and inhabited:

Sophia Jane Adams House, built 1893

Although there are also plenty of abandoned structures:

The Riverside Filling Station, built in 1914, was recently the site of the White Springs Public Library, although from what I can tell the building now sits empty, except for the books piled inside.

The springhouse today

The view of the interior of the springhouse from the remaining walkway

Looking out from the walkway over the Suwannee River

The springhouse as seen from the Suwannee River

The exterior of the springhouse where water once flowed out into the Suwannee River. A gate system could once be closed at this location to prevent backflow from the Suwannee entering the spring during periods of flood.

The interior of the springhouse as seen from inside

For more information on White Springs:

The Telford Hotel of White Springs

White Springs, FL (wikipedia)

Heritage Site of the Month: White Springs

The springs are running in White Springs: The odor is unmistakable

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park

I'm Going to Jasper

Micanopy (Part 1) - The Town

When strolling through the tiny north Florida town of Micanopy, it is clear that the town has a long history by Floridian standards, although just how long a history it has isn't quite so obvious to the casual visitor. According to Hernando De Soto (Spanish conquistador), a Timucuan village was located there in the 1530s, and William Bartram found a Seminole village in the area in the 1700s. The American village of Micanopy and its accompanying Fort Micanopy were established in the early 1800s, and were given the name Micanopy allegedly to placate a nearby Seminole/Miccosukee chief of the same name. The town was also the site of one of the Battle of Micanopy in the Second Seminole War. Early in its history, sugar and citrus were the main sources of income, but following the intense freeze of the winter of 1894, the focus turned to timber. As local timber supplies began to dwindle, the town began to decline. 

South Main Street, Micanopy, early 1900s (source)

J.B. Simonton home, 1915 (source)

Presbyterian Church of the Mediator, 1915 (source)

Modern day Micanopy is not exactly desolate, although it isn't what one would consider booming either. Located in near the southern edge of Alachua County, Micanopy is home to around a thousand residents, a handful of cafes, and a successful string of antique stores. Despite not being located near a beach, amusement park, or other stereotypical Florida attraction, the quaint town of Micanopy has managed to thrive as a weekend or afternoon getaway destination, and it was even named one of the twelve cutest small towns in America by The Huffington Post. (Residents are quite proud of this, and there are signs bragging about this in nearly every single shop in town.)  

Downtown Micanopy consists mainly of antique stores.

The text painted along the top reads "Coffins, Caskets, & Supplies"

Micanopy seems quite cat friendly!

J.B. Simonton House, 2016. (It's currently for sale!)

The Thrasher Building

The former Presbyterian Church is now an Episcopal Church

Herlong Mansion B&B (website)

I visited with a friend back in April, and she purchased an amazing Jimmy Carter re-election poster at one of the antique shops. (I'm the one on the left.)

For more information:

The 12 Cutest Small Towns in America

Micanopy, FL: The Little Town that Time Forgot

Micanopy, FL (wikipedia)

Town Celebrates 176th Anniversary of the Battle of Micanopy

Welcome to the Town of Micanopy

Mayo, Florida

When I was about ten or eleven years old, a friend of mine invited me to accompany her to 'the festival in Mayo' where her family's church was going to have a booth that year. Even though I had grown up less than 40 miles from Mayo, I'd never heard of the town before that invitation. I don't remember much about the festival; my friend and I spent the day trying on and buying various items of costume jewelry from vendors while her parents fried elephant ears in a food truck. All I noticed about the town was that it was small. I did, however, immediately assume that it was the location of the Mayo Clinic. This says a lot about me as a child that the Mayo Clinic was my first thought, and not mayonnaise! It wasn't until I was in high school that I realized that the town was affiliated with neither.

There's not much to the town of Mayo, Florida. It's the county seat of Lafayette County, and has a population of around 1300. It's located along highway 27, which connects High Springs (where I live) to towns further to the west. I've certainly driven through Mayo quite a few times as an adult, although I've only stopped once - and that was in order to take pictures for this blog. Modern day Mayo consists of a decaying old downtown, paralleling highway 27. While many of the older buildings are home to local businesses, many others sit empty in various states of decay. Finding information online about the history of Mayo is.... challenging, to say the least. Seriously, google it; there's not much out there. (This of course means that if you have Mayo related information, I would love to receive it!) What I've been able to learn about the town boils down to this: Lafayette County was created in 1856, and Mayo was named its county seat in 1893. While I don't know when the town was founded, its oldest surviving building dates to 1883. And that's all I've got. Yeah.

Main Street, Mayo, approx. 1910 (source)

The 'House of the Seven Gables' was inspired by the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel of the same name. It was designed by James Mitchell and built by Mack Koon in the 1880s. This photo was taken in the 1960s. (source)

I do, of course, have some modern day photographs for you as well:

The House of the Seven Gables today, sans porch.

Original Lafayette County Courthouse, built in 1893
Currently a B&B and apartments.

Current Lafayette County Courthouse, built in 1908

Unidentified building

This building was most recently the Precious Memories Flower Shop

Center: Mayo Fire Department
Right: Former Dees Drug Store

Doorway: Dees Drug Store 1916

Unidentified building

Hotel Blanche

I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in Columbia City, a tiny crossroads in south-central Columbia County. I was actually born in the town of Lake City (the county seat of Columbia County) and had a Lake City mailing address for the first eighteen years of my life. Columbia City was (and still is) just a crossroads with a flashing light and a convenience store or two. If my family wanted to buy pretty much anything, that involved driving twenty or so minutes into Lake City. I’m now in my late thirties (shhhh!) and I’ve lived away from Columbia County longer than I lived in it. Still, I’m old enough – and I lived there long enough – to (vaguely) remember downtown Lake City as the center of commerce for the community. I remember being a little kid, going downtown with my parents to shop at McCrory’s, Rowands, and JC Penney. I’m also old enough to remember one of old buildings burning down, JC Penney relocating out to the brand new mall in what would later become ‘the strip’ several miles from downtown, and the final death knell for commerce in downtown: the opening of the Lake City Walmart (also on the strip). Downtown wasn’t really a place one went anymore after that. A few businesses hung on through the years, gradually closing their doors as owners retired, moved locations, or simply couldn’t make a profit. While a handful of the old businesses do remain to this day, downtown Lake City is nothing like it was when I was a small child.

However, while I am old enough to remember, however vaguely, an active commercial district in downtown Lake City, what I am not old enough to remember is an open Hotel Blanche, as it ceased operation in 1967, quite a few years before I was born. The original part of the Blanche was built in 1902 by architect Frank Milburn and builder Henry Otis. It was expanded to include a north and a south wing in the mid-1920s, in order to accommodate demand. Located at the northern end of the state, and centered along both railroad lines and the burgeoning highway 441 – one of the major north-south highways prior to the construction of the Interstates – Lake City earned its nickname ‘the gateway to Florida,’ and the Blanche was where the wealthy stayed when they arrived in the state, hosting notable visitors from Al Capone to Johnny Cash over the years.

Hotel Blanche, 1902

Layout of the hotel according to the 1906 Sanborn Map

Source: Columbia County Historical Museum

The hotel in 1943

With train travel replaced by private cars and the construction of I-75 (which bypassed the Blanche by several miles), demand for rooms at the Blanche declined; it ceased operating as a hotel by 1967. My memories of the Blanche are of it being an increasingly dilapidated structure at the heart of downtown, often home to various businesses on the ground floor, but never anything particularly permanent. There was a thrift store we used to go to on the ground floor for a while – I always liked trying to imagine it as part of the old hotel – but other than that, I don’t think I’ve ever been inside any of the hotel. Despite this fact, the slowly disintegrating Hotel Blanche has always been the centerpiece of downtown Lake City in my mind.

The colorful posters in the shop windows have been placed in all the empty storefronts to mitigate the feelings of emptiness and desolation.

The center of the original hotel structure, external balconies long since removed.


The rear of the north wing

Center rear. The central structure comprised the dining room (front) and the kitchen (rear).

Rear of the northern part of the original 1902 structure.

The base of the kitchen's chimney.

To the left, windows into the old dining room

The connection between the original south side and the south wing

Aerial view from Google

Despite growing up in Columbia County, I never heard any rumors of the Blanche being haunted. I’m not one who believes in ghost stories, but I’ve always loved hearing them. I’d like to think that if there were rumors of the Blanche being a haunted structure, I’d at least have heard them. Perhaps I was too young, or perhaps I was too disconnected from the folks who continued to work in and around the building. Or perhaps the alleged haunting of the Blanche is merely a construct of the internet age. I say this because despite never having heard ghost stories pertaining to the hotel, there are mentions of it here and there across the web on various paranormal investigatory sites. One paranormal investigator apparently gave a presentation at the Blanche back in 2006, sponsored by the Columbia County Public Library – and later that evening explored the interior of the hotel seeking ghosts and other phenomena. He claimed the building is inhabited by quite a few restless spirits, and may or may not be the location of some sort of, um, portal. You can read the account here. It’s quite interesting to say the least. The paranormal investigator also took the following photos during the evening exploration:

Photos from PSIResearcher

It turns out that there’s a chance the old Hotel Blanche might not remain a Desolation Florida landmark. Now, numerous plans for revitalizing downtown Lake City have been proposed, debated, and even approved over the years – although many such plans never amounted to more than just talk. While many of the old storefronts in historic downtown Lake City are now home to local businesses, just as many (maybe more) currently sit empty. Downtown has not been revitalized. However, this past fall, plans to spend $14 million to refurbish the Hotel Blanche were approved by local government. You can read about this here and here. As you might imagine, the idea of spending $14 million of taxpayer’s dollars is rather controversial. Allegedly, construction will begin this coming March, although to be honest, I’ll believe it when I see it. 

Links about the Blanche:

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

Hotel Blanche (wikipedia)

The Hotel Blanche, Lake City, Florida

City Council Unanimous for Hotel Redevelopment

Lake City's Last Chance Hotel

Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel (historical fiction)