Ichetucknee River Area History
The Ichetucknee River area has been home to the Archaic, Paleo, and Timicuan Indians up to 12,000 years ago, long before European settlers arrived.
Hernando de Soto visited the area in 1539. A large Spanish Mission, The San Martin de Timucua Mission, was built in 1675 at what is now known as Mission Spring on the banks of the Ichetucknee River, and an old gristmill and Mill Pond Store was also operated on the river in the late 1800's by a man named Henry Collins. The Ichetucknee River even had it's own little post office for awhile, which was also ran by Mr. Collins.
A recently discovered 1829 map shows that from Alligator Lake in Lake City down to the Ichetucknee was all one single river. Jim Stevenson, head of the Ichetucknee Springs Working Group said “When a hurricane stalls over Lake City, it will be possible to take a boat from Alligator Lake all the way to the Gulf of Mexico."
An Old Timer's Reunion usually takes place in January of each year, and is a gathering of folks from the Ichetucknee area before it was designated a Florida State Park. They reminisce and tell stories of the good ole' days, and how so many of them grew up on the river. They took care of their river, many of them learned to swim there and remember wonderful family outings.
For many years, up until about 40 years ago, the river was mostly a local spot, virtually unknown to anyone except nearby residents and some students from Gainesville, but soon Ichetucknee Springs would become known as the most popular tubing spot in the world, attracting an average of 5000 tubers per day. That number does not include those that came just to swim in the Head Spring or dive at Blue Hole.
Uncontrolled access to the the river for many years resulted in heavy pollution, and the famous river began to see some of it's native wildlife and plant life disappear. In 1970 Ichetucknee Springs was purchased from the Loncala Phosphate Company and established as a Florida State Park. At that time, the park began to limit the number of daily visitors allowed to the park to reduce damage to the fragile ecosystem. Since then, the river and springs have returned to their original crystal-clear, pristine condition.
In 1972, the U. S. Department of the Interior declared the head springs as a National Natural Landmark.
