Troy Spring State Park in Lafayette County, Florida

Photograph: Troy Springs SP springs01.jpg by Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 2.5 · 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.

Lafayette County attraction

Troy Spring State Park

Lafayette County · North Florida & First Coast

A first-magnitude spring about six miles north of Branford, off US 27, with a Civil War wreck lying in it.

ABOUT THIS PLACE

The Madison was a Confederate sidewheel paddle steamer working the Suwannee River. In September 1863 her captain, James Felix Tucker, took her into the mouth of this spring and scuttled her rather than let the Union navy have her. What is left of the hull is still on the bottom, visible through the water from the bank on a clear day, and divers go down to it. This is one of only thirty-three first-magnitude springs in Florida, which means it pushes out at least sixty-five million gallons a day, and the water runs from the basin down a short run into the Suwannee. There is a visitor center, a ranger station and a flight of stairs down to the spring, which is how most people get in. The park straddles the Lafayette and Suwannee county line. Swimming and snorkeling are straightforward here; the wreck is the reason most people come with a mask

GETTING THERE

Get Directions ↗Official place website ↗

MOVING TO LAFAYETTE COUNTY?Fourteen services. One business each.

Attorneys, movers, insurance, title companies, roofers and nine more — one listed business per service in Lafayette County.

See local help in Lafayette County →

Keep comparing

Return to the Things to Do choices in Lafayette County.

Back to Lafayette County