Qualla: Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park: Introduction

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The Bushranger, CC BY-SA 4.0. Twelve thousand years ago, Paleo-Indians camped at the edge of a spring so deep they could not see its bottom. They hunted mastodons and giant sloths along its banks, and when those animals died near the water, their bones settled into the limestone bowl below. The bones are still there. On clear days, passengers on boat tours at Wakulla Springs can peer down through 180 feet of crystalline water and see the remains of creatures that walked this landscape during the last Ice Age. The spring itself pumps an average of 400,000 gallons per minute from the Floridan Aquifer, feeding the Wakulla River on its short journey south to the Gulf of Mexico.

Image: The Bushranger | CC BY-SA 4.0

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park: A Bone Yard at the Bottom of the World

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit WhisperToMe, CC BY-SA 3.0. The spring bowl at Wakulla is 315 feet in diameter and 185 feet deep, a vast opening into an underwater cave system that extends for more than 26 miles of explored passageways. Scientists have identified the remains of at least nine extinct mammal species in and around the spring...

Image: WhisperToMe | CC BY-SA 3.0

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park: Edward Ball's Grand Lodge

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1934, Edward Ball, the financial manager for the DuPont family's Florida holdings, purchased Wakulla Springs and set about building a destination that balanced tourism with habitat preservation. The lodge he constructed in 1937 is a two-story Mediterranean Revival structure wi...

Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park: The Creature Surfaces

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1954, a film crew arrived at Wakulla Springs to shoot the underwater sequences for Creature from the Black Lagoon. The spring's remarkable clarity and the lush vegetation along its banks provided the perfect stand-in for an Amazonian lagoon. Stuntman Ricou Browning donned the ...

Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park: Into the Caves

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Below the spring's opening, cave divers have pushed into miles of underwater tunnels, mapping a labyrinth that connects to the broader Woodville Karst Plain system. The Woodville Karst Plain Project has conducted major expeditions here, taking advantage of the spring's great dept...

Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park: The Living Sanctuary

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Above the spring, the park's 6,000 acres shelter pine forests, bald cypress wetlands, and hardwood hammock traversed by three trail systems open to hikers, cyclists, and horseback riders. White-tailed deer and wild turkey move through the uplands, while American alligators, gar, ...

Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0