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Springs Fever: A Field & Recreation Guide to 500 Florida Springs.
3rd Edition by Joe Follman and Richard Buchanan

• Home
• Table of Contents
• Central Florida Panhandle
• Springs Near Tallahassee
• Taylor County
• Withlacoochee River
• Suwannee River
• SantaFe River
• Ichetucknee River
• Ocala National Forest
• Central Gulf Coast
• Other Central Florida
• Northeast FL
• Other Natural Features
• Email us
• Native American

Springs Fever: A Field & Recreation Guide to 500 Florida Springs. 3rd Edition by Joe Follman and Richard Buchanan

Suwannee Blue Spring

Suwannee County

Directions

Accessible only by boat. Put in at Royal Spring: From the intersection of US 27 and US 129 in Branford, follow US 129 north for 5.5 miles. Turn west on CR 349 and go 8.9 miles to the turnoff onto 198th Terrace, where there is a sign. Continue 0.7 mile to the turn onto unpaved 157th Lane, which leads into the park, which is officially called the Hugh Byron Hollingsworth, Sr. County Park. Go downriver,and look for mouth of Suwannee Blue Springs run by a boulder on the left near the shore after about ¼ mile.

Spring Description

The features of this site are two springs/sink holes/karst windows and a spring pool that flows directly into the Suwannee River. The first spring/sinkhole/karst window is perhaps 250 feet back/east from the river. It is a steep-sided conical hole with a large trunk fallen across it. On the date of visit (spring 1998), the rim of the hole was perhaps 20 feet above the surface of the very clear blue water. The water was flowing both upward--like a spring boil--and west toward the next (lower) hole. The second and smaller spring/sinkhole/karst window was perhaps 65 feet below and SW of the first, down the natural slope of the land. It was similar in appearance to the first hole. Both holes had very clear blue water. Below the second hole, water rose again in an area of thick vegetation to form a shallow spring pool that was perhaps 25 feet across and 100-150 feet from the river. The pool was clear and very blue, and the bottom was sandy.

Use/Access

• The spring is apparently on private property and there is no land access. However, it was not posted and the authors reached the site with no difficulty or trouble in the spring of 1998. There was very little evidence of human use; the only structure on the site was a broken bench placed next to the spring pool. The authors were told that, at previous times, there was a fence across the mouth of the spring run.
• The site is not suited for swimming. It is primarily a scenic site.

Personal Impressions

The authors were amazed at this beautiful and remote geological/hydrological site that combined sinks, springs, karst windows, and a picturesque pool. The spring is a stunning sight. It seemed apparent that water rose into the first hole, then flowed to the second hole, and then to the springpool and run to the Suwannee. How and why the plumbing worked and was formed in this way was beyond the faculties of the authors. Perhaps the two holes were sinkholes that opened above the site of the spring pool along the underground flow channel to the spring.

Nearby Springs

• Bonnet
• Peacock
• Royal
• Running
• Telford
• Hidden
• Cow
• Bathtub
• Convict
• Thomas
• Perry