Stephen F Austin State Park and San Felipe de Austin Historic Site

Statue at San Felipe de Austin Historic Site

I arrived at the state park and got my site set up with plenty of time to go visit the nearby San Felipe de Austin Historic site.  The site, and museum, is a short distance from the entrance to the State Park .  The community was around prior to the war for Texas Independence, and this site brings that history to life.

Celia’s Kitchen

Court House

Newspaper/Printer

Something that really stood out to me at the time I visited was that none of the artifacts seem to be nailed down or glued in place.  The way it is set up encourages visitors to touch, or even pick up and hold, the items on display.  The only exception to this was the building for the old newspaper with a working printing press.  This room was roped off, however there was a volunteer who worked there to explain how everything worked and even had a couple of examples of things that were printed there.

From here I headed back to the campground to make some dinner and plan my hike for the next morning.  I woke up the next day to more rain – at this point I was beginning to think that the rain was going to follow me all the way  across the country on this trip.  By afternoon though, the rain had stopped so I headed out to explore the hiking trails… and I was quickly chased off the trails by thick swarms of mosquitoes.  Unfortunately, the bug spray in my backpack was empty, so I had no choice but to abandon my hiking plans for the day.  I picked up a new can at my first grocery run, but as it turned out, I didn’t need it at any other spot.

This campground was nice – paved and level spots with a large cleared area with a picnic table.  The only downside was that the internet was very spotty.  I was getting between 0 and 1 bars with T-Mobile.

Silver River Museum–Silver Springs SP

Shovel Tusked Mastodon – The strangest fossil I’ve ever seen

The Silver River Museum at Silver Springs State Park is operated by the Marion County school system.  Admission to the museum is only $2 per person (it is not included with admission to the park), and the funds are used to fund the classes and facilities for the students.  The museum is located in the park on the south side of the river.

Shove Tusked Mastodon

Fossils and Interpretive Dance

Whale

The museum has two main themes – Florida Paleontology and Florida Archeology.  There is a plaque near a dinosaur display that says there are no dinosaur fossils in Florida, however there are plenty of others.

Dugout Canoe

The archeological displays include prehistoric Indian artifacts as well as artifacts as recent as the 1800’s to early 1900’s, and outside the museum is a Florida Cracker pioneer village from the 1800’s. Some of the buildings are replicas, and some (I believe) are authentic.

Florida Cow Hunters

Turpentine Industry

Turtle Pipe

Of course, the museum is airconditioned, so there’s another good reason to visit while at the park. 

Touring Silver Springs State (Theme) Park

Silver Springs Park Entrance

Silver Springs State Park is the site of the oldest tourist attraction in Florida, and walking through the park is like stepping back in history.  From the driveway on SR-40 to the fountain at the entrance of the park, one can appreciate just how “grand” this must have been in it’s hey-day, and imagine the size of the crowds that must have visited every day.

After entering the park the “Springside Mall” is on the left, and the boat launch is on the right.  The mall has a gift shop, cafeteria, and an ice cream shop.  The cheese burger and fries at the cafeteria is pretty good; we stopped here for lunch twice.

The boat launch is where the glass bottom boat tours start.  This tour is a must-do for anyone in the area.  It doesn’t take too long, and the guide will describe the boils, types of fish, as well as some of the archeological finds in the spring.

These are the two main sites that remain from the original theme park, but there used to be so much more.  I found an old them park map online that isn’t that old (it’s from around 2006), that shows just how much the park had to offer.  Even the water park has been left to the elements.  At the park, they do have paper maps available, but I had no luck finding one online to share here.

We started our tour of the park with a ride on the glass bottom boat.  This tour has been around since 1878 when this area was known as Silver Springs Nature Theme Park (and our tour guide told us that he has been running a boat tour here for the past 50 years). 

The boats are set up with a bench seat that wraps around the center viewing area, so everyone has a good view of everything in the water.  There’s a short video down below that shows a couple of the highlights from the tour.

After the boat tour we walked headed to the east side of the park to walk along the nature trail.  This is a one mile loop through a forest of pines and oaks.  We had our eyes out for the famous Florida monkeys but didn’t see any on this trip.  This seems like a perfect spot for them.

On the west side of the park there is a boardwalk that goes around the perimeter of Ross Allen Island.  Back in the day, the island had several attractions, but the only things remaining are the stage where the reptile shows were held, and one or two of the covered pavilions overlooking the river.  The whole boardwalk (including the stage and pavilions) are well maintained, and there are no visible remains of what was removed.

One thing that we didn’t have time for on this trip was to rent a canoe or kayak and go paddling down the river.  We’ll do that on our next visit, but I mention it here to note that the launch (and rental) is on the south side of the parking lot.

The park is also famous for movies and TV shows.  Several Tarzan movies were filmed here, as well as (one of my favorites) The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  Also, the Sea Hunt television series was filmed onsite.  This is piece of old-Florida history as well as recent history many of us remember from these old shows.  It’s good to see that it is being maintained by the state park system. 

Glass Bottom Boat at Silver Springs State Park

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Anhinga	Sea Hunt Photo and Trailhead	Glass Bottom Boat
Trail Selfie	Silver River	Top of Fish