Rainbow Springs State Park

Marion County · Central Florida

Fourteen hundred and fifty-nine acres around a first-magnitude head spring near Dunnellon that puts out as much as six hundred million gallons a day.

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ABOUT THIS PLACE

The water comes up through many separate vents rather than one mouth, and it forms the Rainbow River. It was called Blue Spring until the 1930s, when the owners renamed it to sell it, and for forty years it ran as a roadside attraction with submarine boat tours and, in the 1950s, mermaid performances. That business closed in the 1970s and the place sat idle until Florida bought it in 1990, which is the reason there is a park here rather than a subdivision. The ground had been strip mined for phosphate before that, and the waterfalls people photograph were made by the attraction's owners out of the old open pits, so they are man-made and worth knowing as such. A nature trail of about two miles runs through the gardens and along the rim. There is swimming, snorkeling, canoeing and kayaking, with rentals on site, and a full campground at a separate entrance. Open eight until sundown, every day

GETTING THERE

Get Directions ↗Official place website ↗

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