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Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, photo 1 of 4

Photo: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) / U.S. Federal Highway Administration / Public domain · source

Springs

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park

Wakulla Springs, FL · Big Bend$$6 per vehicle; riverboat $8 adults, $5 kids 3 to 12

About

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park near Tallahassee guards one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs on Earth, a sapphire pool 185 feet deep that feeds a wild, jungly river. Take the riverboat. The ranger-led tour runs a two-mile loop downstream and back in 45 to 55 minutes, past alligators and wading birds, and manatees turn up most often from October through January. Tickets are $8, or $5 for ages 3 to 12, by reservation only, and the park gate is another $6 a carload. Swimming is allowed only in the marked area at the spring, where the diving platform stands over 70-degree water. Hollywood shot Tarzan's Secret Treasure here in 1941 and Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954. The 1937 lodge has the world's longest known marble bar, 70 feet 3 inches, in its soda fountain. Herman, a mastodon skeleton recovered from the spring in 1930, is on display at the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee.

Highlights

Riverboat wildlife tours past alligators, manatees, and migratory birdsOne of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the worldHistoric 1937 Wakulla Springs Lodge, open year roundHigh dive platform and swimming in cool, clear spring waterSetting for Tarzan's Secret Treasure and Creature from the Black Lagoon

Getting there

465 Wakulla Park Drive, Wakulla Springs, FL 32327

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