Florida's Original Tourist Attractions (on PorterBriggs.com)

Hi All -

I just got an article published on PorterBriggs.com about one of my favorite topics - the abandoned springs-resorts of north Florida. CLICK HERE or on the image below to check it out!

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

Luraville and Peacock Springs

Luraville, FL of today is little more than a crossroads with a flashing light, roughly twenty miles southwest of Live Oak, FL in the north Florida county of Suwannee, just north of the Suwannee River. Information about Luraville is limited to say the least. Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together.

While the town of Luraville does not seem to have been founded by Dr. John Calvin Peacock, he appears to have been one of the town’s earliest prominent citizens. He moved there in 1875 (or possibly 1857, as per one of the signs at the Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park), where he bought a large tract of land which included the springs now known as Peacock Springs. Peacock was not only a cattle farmer, but also served as a local doctor and preacher. Luraville grew to a population of 75 by 1886, and had both a saw and a grist mill, as well as two churches and four stores. During that time, the springs on the Peacock property became a popular site for locals to relax, and were used as both the location of baptisms and a source of drinking water for the community.

By the 1890s, the town saw a new source of income: phosphate. In order to move the vast quantities of phosphate being quarried from the Mutual Phosphate Mining Company’s mine at Luraville, the Florida Railway extended what became known as the Luraville Branch into the town.

Downtown Luraville, 1890s (source)

Interior of the Luraville General Store, 1890s (source)

Luraville Phosphate Mine, 1892 (source)

Luraville Phosphate Mine, 1908 (source)

Here information on the Peacocks and Luraville pretty much runs dry until the 1950s, when cave divers began exploring the extensive cave system connecting the springs on the Peacock property. In 1985 the property was purchased by the Nature Conservancy. It was later sold to the state of Florida, and opened as a State Park in 1993. The park was initially named Peacock Springs State Park, but the name was changed to Wes Skiles Peacock SpringsState Park to honor cave diver, filmmaker, and springs advocate, Wes Skiles, who died in 2010.

While Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park does offer hiking trails, picnicking facilities, and swimming, its main attraction is cave diving. When I was there, I am fairly certain that I was the only person not diving. There is no park staff on site, and the entrance fee is to be paid in accordance with the honor system ($4/car; bring exact change). The only map of the hiking trail is located at the park entrance (which I didn’t realize until I was driving out). There are at least two signs bearing maps of the park’s cave system, although I expect that cave divers need to arrive with far more detailed information. There are two different dive shops in Luraville, which should be able to accommodate cave diver’s needs in that respect.

The roads in the park are not paved.

Peacock Springs

Cave Divers in Peacock Springs

While it was gorgeous, there was a high level of algae growth.

Just down the run from Peacock Springs

Just down the run from Peacock Springs

Orange Grove sink, one of the other springs on the park grounds, is nearly entirely covered with duckweed, except for the areas from which water upwells.

Other than the two dive shops, there is not much to modern day Luraville: one convenience store, a church, a flashing light, a community center, and a handful of homes. Several of the homes clearly date back to Luraville’s heyday, although I would guess that its modern population is somewhere in the vicinity of the community’s 1886 population of 75, if not smaller.

This house dates to the 1930s, and is currently for sale.

I was unable to find any information on this house.

Luraville Community Center and Voting Precinct. The red building in the rear is the Luraville Volunteer Fire Department.

Here's a closeup of the Luraville Community Center. If you scroll up to the picture of downtown Luraville in the 1890s, you will see similar buildings, one of which may very well be this structure. If this is the site of the original downtown Luraville, this is all that remains.

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Another old house of Luraville

For more information, check out the following:

Florida State Parks: Peacock Springs

Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park (Wikipedia)

Wesley C. Skiles (Wikipedia)

Hampton Springs Hotel: Update!

Joe of Florida Trailblazer (and y'all should check out his site if you haven't) emailed me the link to a really fantastic document on the Hampton Springs Hotel. My original post on the hotel is here, but it definitely deserves this followup comparison between how things were then and how they are now. The document where the following old pictures - and more - can be seen here. There is no date on the document itself, but based on its contents, it was published no earlier than 1927. Definitely check out the whole file - it gives a great look into how the tourism business was run in north Florida in the late 1920s, and it clearly shows how strongly they were pushing the medicinal benefits of Florida's spring water. You can explore the file in detail on your own, but I wanted to post some comparison before and after shots, so you can visualize the hotel upon its modern remains:

Hampton Springs Hotel

You might have noticed that even though this blog is relatively young, I have done quite a few posts on Florida's springs and the remains of hotels and springhouses that surround them. This is partly because Florida's springs are one of my favorite features of this state. This is also because in the early days of Florida tourism - before Disney was a household name and when Miami was nothing but a small town - Florida's springs were what drew tourists to the state. It certainly didn't hurt that basking in mineral-rich waters, such as Florida's springs, was believed to have numerous medicinal benefits. The Hampton Springs Hotel was once such a tourist attraction.

Located just outside of the town of Perry, the hotel was constructed over the springs back in the early 1900s, the grand hotel attracted so many visitors that it had to be expanded - and its famous visitors even allegedly included Theodore Roosevelt. In the late 1920s, modern medicine of the day began to discount the 'healing' claims of Florida's mineral-rich springwater, and many of Florida's spring-affiliated resorts closed. Hampton Springs Hotel, however, added a golf course, a hunting and fishing club, and an exclusive spa club, which helped the hotel continue attracting visitors through the 1930s. Beginning in the late 1930s and into the 1940s, the hotel was used to house troops who were testing military aircraft at the airport located in Perry. The hotel complex was destroyed by fire in 1954.

(source)

(source)

(source)

In the upper left it reads, 'Guaranteed for Rheumatism, Indigestion, Dyspepsia, Stomach, Kidney, Bladder Troubles, Gastritis, and Skin Diseases'

(source)

This is a promotional brochure for Taylor County, which features an image of the Hampton Springs Hotel. The text reads: "Anyone interested is invited to come to Taylor county. The homeseeker, the tourist, and the sportsman are all welcome. Perry is known as a Glad Hand Town, where the visitor is given a cordial greeting, and made to feel at home. If you are interested in fruit growing, trucking, farming, darying, raising livestock or poultry, if you are interested in hunting or fishing, or just wish to rest and recuperate, you are asked to come and investigate opportunities. Meet our people, see our proved and unimproved lands, learn of the great variety and yield of the crops, partake of the pleasures our section has to offer, then if you are pleased, make your plans to stay with us."

Little remains of the Hampton Springs Hotel today other than the foundations and the concrete pools built up around the spring itself. Taylor County and the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation have turned the former site of the Hampton Springs Hotel into a park, where visitors can enjoy the springs, hotel ruins, Spring Creek, and picnic tables. 

Entering the Hampton Springs Park. The walkways and cement structures date back to the hotel.

Numerous remains of building foundations dot the site.

More foundations

More original concrete work

Approaching the springs area

 
Before you reach the springs, you come to this pool.

A closeup of the structure (?) in the center of the pool.

Looking back towards the first pool from the springs.

The springs have been entirely enclosed in these concrete pools. Despite the algae growing in the pool, the water flowing from the spring (coming up from that dark hole in the center) is crystal clear - although it has a strong sulfur smell!

A closer look

From this angle, you can see remains of either tile or scored concrete surrounding the spring (look to the upper right of the hole).

A look at the spring-fed pools.

The spring water flows into various pools before finally exiting the concrete maze and entering Spring Creek.

Stairs into the largest pool, the one located the closest to Spring Creek

Spring Creek

There's an old bridge over Spring Creek (right center). 

Not sure about the concrete structure in the fore.

More information:
Taylor County & Perry, Florida History

1927 Brochure from the Hampton Springs Hotel and Club

Florida Memory: Hampton Springs

Exploring the Hampton Springs Hotel Site in Taylor County

Ruins of the Hampton Springs Hotel

UPDATE: Click here to see a comparison between the original hotel grounds and the way the property looks now!