WATER & COAST
Rum Island Park
Columbia County · North Florida & First Coast
A small county park on the Santa Fe River where a clear spring runs straight into the river's tea-colored water.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Rum Island Park is at 1447 Southwest Rum Island Terrace in Fort White, and it is run by Columbia County. It is not large, and what brings people is the meeting of two waters: the spring here runs clear, and the Santa Fe River beside it runs dark with tannin, so the line where they mix is easy to see from the bank. Swimmers move between the two. The park gives access to the river as well as the spring, and people canoe, paddle, boat, fish, snorkel and sunbathe here, or simply sit in the shallow water on a hot afternoon. The name has a story behind it: the Suwannee River Water Management District says it comes from the moonshine stills hidden in this stretch of woods in the early 1900s. The park is open the year round. There is a daily charge per vehicle, and the county sells annual passes at one rate for Columbia County residents and a higher one for everyone else, with free annual passes for seniors and for military visitors. Because the spring sits at river level, high water on the Santa Fe pushes river water over it and clouds it, so the clear days are the dry ones
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