Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

The wild side of Florida is filled with endangered species such as the Florida panther, red wolf, manatee, and whooping crane, in addition to black bear, bobcat, and, of course, alligator.

As a popular train stop in the early 1900s, passengers could picnic and take a dip in the spring while train cars were being loaded up with cedar, crabs, fish, and spring water from the nearby aquifer. When Bruce Hoover of Chicago visited in 1924, he described it as “the most beautiful river and springs on the face of the planet.” Homosassa Springs hasn’t changed much in this regard over the years.

A staggering number of freshwater and saltwater fish, including large jacks, snapper, snook, and other species, continue to congregate in the natural spring bowl. The Underwater Observatory, a one-of-a-kind underwater structure, allows visitors to “walk underwater” beneath the surface of the spring, where they can observe the various fish and manatees swimming about. Look down into the depths of the first-magnitude spring and you may be able to catch a glimpse of fish and manatees in their natural environment.

It also has a variety of captive animals, including alligators, black bears, red wolves, Key deer, flamingos, whooping cranes, and the world’s oldest hippopotamus in captivity, which is over 100 years old. In addition to serving as ambassadors for their species, the native wildlife that lives in the park allows visitors to have direct encounters with the animals and their natural environments. Although each has a different life storey to tell, all of the animals who live in the enclosure share one thing in common: they are unable to survive in the wild on their own.