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A Florida manatee swims near Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in Citrus County. Photo: Keith Ramos, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain.

COUNTY SPOTLIGHT · CITRUS COUNTY

Citrus County: Where the Manatees Spend the Winter

Hundreds of manatees come to its warm springs every winter, Elvis Presley made a movie in its courthouse, and a 47-mile paved trail runs past its lakes. Meet Citrus County.

A Florida manatee swims near Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in Citrus County. Photo: Keith Ramos, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain.

ARTICLE

Hundreds of manatees come to its warm springs every winter, Elvis Presley made a movie in its courthouse, and a 47-mile paved trail runs past its lakes. Meet Citrus County.

By 1stFlorida Editorial Team · Published November 11, 2026 · Verified October 26, 2026

Every winter, when the Gulf turns cold, hundreds of manatees swim into the warm springs of Citrus County. People travel from around the world to see them. But Citrus County is more than a winter home for manatees. It has a courthouse where Elvis Presley made a movie, a town named for its wildflowers, ancient mounds that served as a ceremonial center for 1,600 years, and a paved trail that runs 47 miles past lakes and small towns.

A county named for wild oranges

Hernando County once covered much of Central Florida. By 1886 it took in all of what is now Citrus and Pasco counties. Then the Legislature split it three ways, into Citrus, Pasco and a smaller Hernando, and on June 2, 1887, Citrus County was created.

The name came from the land. A 1936 history of the county, written for the Works Progress Administration and kept today by Florida Memory ↗, says the early settlers found wild orange trees growing in great numbers, and the county took its name from them.

The new county's first commissioners met on August 7, 1887, in a church at Mannfield, the first county seat. Choosing a permanent seat took six ballots and several years, and Inverness won. The orange groves did not last as long. The freeze of 1895, the coldest the state had known, ruined thousands of acres of them. The name stayed.

Winter with the manatees

The small city of Crystal River sits on Kings Bay, where more than 70 natural springs rise from the ground, according to the county's visitors bureau. The water stays at about 72 degrees all year.

When Gulf waters drop below 68 degrees, hundreds of manatees move into these shallow, warm springs. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls it the largest gathering of manatees in the world in a natural winter habitat. In 1983 the service created the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, the only refuge set up specifically to protect the Florida manatee.

Manatee season runs from November 15 through March 31. During those months, seven manatee sanctuaries in Kings Bay are closed to all people and boats, so the animals can rest undisturbed.

The best-known spot is Three Sisters Springs, owned by the City of Crystal River and the Southwest Florida Water Management District and managed as part of the refuge. A 1,300-foot boardwalk with viewing platforms circles the springs, so you can watch manatees in clear water without getting wet. Visitors arrive by shuttle, and during manatee season rangers lead programs there every day. Tickets are sold through the city's Three Sisters Springs page ↗, (352) 586-1170.

Want to get in the water? The visitors bureau says this is one of only a few places in the world where you can have an in-water experience with manatees. Tour companies on Kings Bay work under special-use permits from the refuge, and every swimmer learns "Manatee Manners" first. The refuge asks for passive observation, which means you never start contact with a manatee. No chasing, no touching a resting or feeding manatee, and no feeding them. Watch the Manatee Manners video on the refuge's visit page ↗ before you go. Its visitor center is at 1502 SE Kings Bay Drive, (352) 563-2088.

Homosassa: walk beneath a spring

At Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park ↗, you can go below the surface of a first-magnitude spring. From the Underwater Observatory, you watch manatees and big fish such as jacks, snapper and snook swim by.

The park also cares for animals that cannot survive in the wild on their own, so they serve as ambassadors for their kind. Among the species you can see are the Florida panther, red wolf, black bear, whooping crane, Key deer and flamingo. A shaded boardwalk trail runs 1.1 miles. The park's number is 352-423-5600.

In the early 1900s the spring was a train stop, and passengers picnicked and swam while the trains were loaded with cedar, crabs, fish and spring water. In 1924, the state park says, a visitor from Chicago called it "the most beautiful river and springs in the world."

Also in Homosassa, Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park ↗ keeps a harder chapter of the past. David Levy Yulee, who later served Florida in the U.S. House and Senate, owned the 5,000-acre Margarita Plantation here, worked by enslaved people. Its sugar mill ran from 1851 to 1864 and supplied sugar products to Southern troops during the Civil War. A 40-foot limestone chimney, iron gears and the cane press remain.

A ceremonial center for 1,600 years

Crystal River Archaeological State Park ↗ is a 61-acre National Historic Landmark. For 1,600 years it was an imposing ceremonial center for Native Americans, and it is one of the longest continuously occupied sites in Florida. Its six mounds include burial mounds and temple and platform mounds, along with a plaza and a large midden, a heap of shells and other leftovers of daily life. In 1964 two large limestone slabs were found here. They are believed to be stelae, stones carved or inscribed to honor something important. A museum tells the story of the people who lived here. Call 352-795-3817.

Also in Crystal River, Crystal River Preserve State Park ↗ protects more than 27,500 acres of pinewoods, hardwood forest, salt marsh and mangrove islands, with a 7-mile loop trail for walkers, joggers and mountain bikers.

Out to the Gulf

To put your toes in the sand, head to Fort Island Gulf Beach, a county-maintained beach at the end of West Fort Island Trail. Across the road lies salt marsh in the St. Martins Marsh Aquatic Preserve, a refuge for many kinds of birds. A 465-foot fishing pier and boardwalk, open to wheelchairs, looks out over Crystal Bay. Watch for black skimmers, terns, American oystercatchers, ospreys and bald eagles. Bottlenose dolphins are often seen too. The beach's listed number is (352) 527-7540.

In summer, Crystal River and Homosassa are part of one of Florida's bay scallop zones, where you gather scallops by hand or with a dip net. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sets the season dates and the rules, and most harvesters need a Florida saltwater fishing license. Check the FWC bay scallop page ↗ before you go.

Inverness and Floral City

Inverness, the county seat, sits beside Lake Henderson, part of the Tsala Apopka chain of lakes. At the center of town stands the 1912 courthouse. Tampa architect Willis R. Biggers turned its corners to face northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest to fit the town's diamond-shaped streets, and the city says no other courthouse in Florida is set that way.

In the summer of 1961, Elvis Presley filmed his ninth movie, Follow That Dream, in Citrus County. The big courtroom scene was shot in this building's courtroom, with many townspeople as extras. When the courtroom was later restored to look as it did in 1912, part of the plan came from a scene in the movie. Today the building holds the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum, with exhibits on the county's past, from prehistory to the film industry. Call (352) 341-6436.

A few blocks east, the Depot District brings together Liberty Park and Wallace Brooks Park on the shore of Lake Henderson, next to an 1892 railroad depot that was moved to face the Withlacoochee State Trail ↗. At 47 miles, it is one of the longest paved rail-trails in Florida, running through Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties for bikers, runners, walkers and skaters. Call 352-726-0315.

Near Inverness, Fort Cooper State Park ↗ marks a fort that Georgia volunteers built in April 1836, during the Second Seminole War, to protect sick and wounded soldiers. They held out for 16 days against warriors led by Osceola until help arrived. Today the park offers the clear, 160-acre Lake Holathlikaha, canoe and paddleboat rentals, and more than five miles of trails.

Down the trail, Floral City has deep roots. Hernando de Soto came upon a native village called Tocaste here in 1539. Surveyors laid out the town in 1883 and named it for its wildflowers and blooming trees, and its moss-draped oak canopy, which the visitors bureau calls the Avenue of the Oaks, was planted in 1884. A phosphate boom in the 1890s brought mine workers, and the population grew to nearly 10,000, says the state historical marker in town. The Floral City Historic District has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1993, and every year the town hosts the Floral City Strawberry Festival in early March.

Living in Citrus County

About 166,500 people lived in Citrus County on April 1, 2025, according to the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Only two places are incorporated cities: Inverness, with 7,937 people, and Crystal River, with 3,271. More than nine in ten residents live in the unincorporated county, in communities such as Homosassa, Floral City, Lecanto and Citrus Springs.

Much of the fun here is outdoors: lakes, springs, the Gulf, the trail and parks like Inverness's 290-acre Whispering Pines Park, with trails, disc golf, pickleball courts and a pool. County government offices are in the Lecanto Government Building, 3600 W. Sovereign Path, (352) 527-5200. For visitor information, the Citrus County Visitors and Convention Bureau in Crystal River answers at 1-800-587-6667.

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Sources

These sources were read online on October 26, 2026.

Top photo: Florida Manatee FWS 20 ↗ by Keith Ramos, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, from Wikimedia Commons.

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