Prior to 2013, the Silver River State Park was independent of the Silver Springs Theme Park, with which many of you are familiar. The Silver Springs Theme Park was one of the main Florida attractions prior to the arrival of Walt Disney and his minions who initiated a theme park explosion with the construction of Disney World in Orlando almost 40 years ago.
In recent years, the Silver Springs Theme Park has been negatively affected by decreasing attendance and high maintenance costs. Finally, in 2013, the state of Florida (which bought the property in 1985) took over the park from the folks who had leased it and merged it with the Silver River State Park and the two, now become one, are (is?) known as the Silver Springs State Park.
This sign is found in what was the old Silver River State Park. The Nature Trail takes one through a forested area to the Silver River, a 4.5 mile waterway which flows from the springs to the Oklawaha River. It is about a half-mile trek to the Silver River, a gorgeous "old Florida" place where one can canoe and kayak but not fish!
You can read more about all of this here. And if you wish to see something of what the Silver Springs Theme Park was all about, just Google "Silver Springs" in the "search" box at the top right of this blog.
12 comments:
Sure seems to be a naturally wonderful place to spend a day in!!
This would be a great place for hiking.
I think it's kind of neat the way the State has bought some of those old tourist attractions ... to preserve the history and in this case to keep up the park space.
Ok so why no fishing?
Let's hope the merger becomes a huge success, looks and sounds like a great p[lace to enjoy and explore. Without a fishing rod of course!
I have fond memories from my childhood of times spent at Silver Springs and on those glass bottom boats.
I hope the place will be preserved. Such a beautiful park.
Time flies! Has Disney really been there for 40 years?
I'm sure I would enjoy hiking this trail with my camera.
Nothing wrong with reverting back to some "old Florida." I'm sure there's plenty of Mickey Mouse and company to go around.
Wow such information--you are just full of it---information that is.
Looks like a great place to hike and picnic. The river sounds like a nice place to---fish. Oops!
anyhoo it would be fun to go there. MB
Sometimes change is not for the better... :(
It must be a nice place for hiking, even without fishing :-)
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