Dead Lakes Recreation Area in Gulf County, Florida

Photograph: North pond at Dead Lakes Park.jpg by The Bushranger · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Restored from the credited Wikimedia Commons file, normalized to the consistent attraction-card frame and converted to WebP by 1stFlorida.com. Portrait originals retain their complete composition over a softly blurred extension of the same photograph.

Gulf County attraction

Dead Lakes Recreation Area

Gulf County · Panhandle & Emerald Coast

A 6,700-acre swamp forest of standing dead cypress near Wewahitchka, in the country's tupelo honey capital.

ABOUT THIS PLACE

The Dead Lakes are a 6,700-acre swamp forest of open water and shrunken bald cypress on the Chipola River near Wewahitchka, and the name describes exactly what a visitor sees. A dam built across the river in 1960, with a canal diverting the flow toward the Apalachicola, changed the water conditions in the cypress swamp and killed a great many of the trees; their trunks still stand in the water. The dam came out between 1987 and 1989 and the fish and the wildlife came back strongly. Hurricane Michael then took a heavy toll on the old trees, and anyone who knew the place before will see the difference. The tupelo trees here are the reason Wewahitchka is known nationally for tupelo honey; the beekeepers put their hives out along these waters. The park was a state park until 2003 and Gulf County runs it now. Camping is at Dead Lakes RV Campground beside the park, 482 Gary Rowell Road, telephone 850-639-1008, which is open and takes reservations. The nature trail's condition is uncertain, so the boat ramp and the day-use picnic area are the surest parts of the park itself. Fishing is the main draw, with bream and shellcracker in spring. It is off State Road 71, open sunrise to sunset, free, and leashed dogs are welcome

GETTING THERE

Get Directions ↗Official place website ↗

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