Discover Wakulla Springs State Park

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Wakulla Springs State Park, near Tallahassee, FL, is a 6,000-acre wildlife sanctuary. It boasts jungle cruises, a swimming hole, a historic lodge, and alligators.

It’s December 1941, less than a week prior to the vicious bombing attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor. Americans are still relatively naïve to the machinations of World War II across Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. Broadway shows still raise and lower their curtains to thunderous applause, radio stations play current-day music interspersed with war bulletins, and projectors are still rolling throughout movie theaters. It’s opening night for “Tarzan’s Secret Treasure”  to hit the screen. Johnny Weismuller, an Austro-Hungarian-born American actor, is at the helm, playing Edgar Rice Burroughs’ famed character, Tarzan. Audiences think they’re being transported to the untamed bush forests of the sub-Saharan continent. In reality, many of the exotic jungle scenes were actually shot in the Sunshine State—at Wakulla Springs State Park, situated less than 30 miles from Florida’s capital of Tallahassee, in Crawfordville.

Park entrance sign to Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park. Photo by Vickie Lillo

The 6,000-acre wildlife sanctuary boasts jungle cruises, a swimming hole, a Moorish-styled lodge, and alligators. Yes, that’s right, alligators. I’ve seen them basking in the grasses on the opposite shore from the swim area, soaking up the rays…same as the sunbathers sprawled on beach towels in the man-made sandpit.

Tarzan Movie Filmed in the Gator-Filled Waters at Wakulla Springs State Park

Believe it or not, it wasn’t the ecosystem’s pine forests, cypress wetlands, and hardwood hammocks that put the park at Wakulla Springs on the map. Nor was it the tour boats navigating the 68-degree Wakulla River or the mastodon bones found and identified in the 1850s on the floor of the spring basin. It wasn’t even the fact that Native Amerindians inhabited this land and thrived in shoreline villages.

Instead, it was a world-renowned swimmer named Newt Perry, who worked as a manager and promoter at both Central Florida’s Silver Springs and at the then newly-opened lodge, that would galvanize Wakulla Springs into the history books. Through his connections with filmmaker Grantland Rice, Newt convinced the top brass at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures to film at Wakulla Springs. He showed them that the primeval swampland, blanketed in ancient cypress trees and dangling strands of Spanish moss, would make the perfect backdrop for Hollywood films. His friendship with fellow swimmer Johnny Weismuller cemented the emergence of these Springs into a tinsel-town legend.

Bald cypress trees on Hammock Spur Trail at Wakulla Springs State Park. Photo by Gustavo Lillo

Edward Ball Wakulla State Springs Park Offers Glimpse of Old Florida Flora and Fauna

By 1954, Newt had managed to influence Universal Studios to film “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and its sequels in the state park. The result—Wakulla Springs became firmly entrenched in the show business boom. With its year-round nippy temperatures and crystal-clear waters, this largest and deepest single-vent freshwater spring in the world developed into cinematic fodder for generations to come.

Fast forward to today. Visitors like me clamor to the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park for a rare glimpse of the flora and fauna of Old Florida. Nature’s treasures include deciduous bald cypress trees with enormous buttresses and strange knobby growths above the root system known as knees. The park also hosts flowering Southern magnolias, plentiful shorebirds—moorhens, egrets, and herons—wading at the water’s edge, and white-tailed deer high-stepping through the woods.

Find yourself surrounded by pure nature in Wakulla Springs. Watch alligators, turtles, and manatees living together in this beautiful and untouched landscape. Photo by S Hoss via iStock by Getty Images

Swimming Hole Helps Beat the Heat at Wakulla Springs State Park

I came to the swimming hole to stretch out on the wooden decks anchored in the springs. Those more daring might choose to take an invigorating plunge from the two-story diving platform.

The swimming hole includes an anchored dock and a two-story dive tower for the more adventurous. Photo by Gustavo Lillo

Mostly, folks just want to beat the heat of the Panhandle’s sweltering summers by swimming and snorkeling in the frigid wellspring, a source of chilliness that oozes upwards from caverns hidden deep below. The bathers emerge from the water giggling and laughing and pointing to the occasional smirking alligator lazing in the sunshine on the distant bank, toothy grin and all.

Financier Edward Ball Builds The Lodge at Wakulla Springs

Wakulla Springs visitors are drawn to wilderness habitats and the area’s big-screen reputation. Additionally, guests are offered a chance to experience the same natural beauty and relaxing pace of life that financier Edward Ball envisioned when he first purchased acreage in 1937 around the mainspring. Mr. Ball began working on his plan to build a luxurious hotel and three years later, the Lodge opened.

Trees blooming at The Lodge at Wakulla Springs, built-in Moorish-Spanish architecture. Photo by Vickie Lillo

Considered North Florida’s own castle, the lodge has 27 rooms that overlook the sapphire waters, where oftentimes in autumn, docile West Indian manatees venture upstream towards warmer waters. Little more than plant-eating sea cows, these herculean mammals sashay easily through the stream, wielding their flippers as super-sized paddles. Early-risers can wake to the first rays of morning sunshine as it bounces across the springs, casting effervescent sparkles of light betwixt hanging clusters of curly leaves—vines of Spanish moss clinging to cypress and live oak trees. At sunset, the shimmering light retreats back into the shadows, allowing dusk to descend upon Wakulla Springs like a cloak.

Side View of the Lodge at Wakulla Springs, which opened in 1940. Photo by Gustavo Lillo

Spanish Moor-Styled Lodge Draws Guests to Wakulla Springs State Park

Fashioned in the style popular during the 1920s and ‘30s, the homey lodge combines Spanish Moor architecture and art-deco motifs. The Spanish influence is evident in the massive masonry and stucco walls, arched windows, and wrought-iron grillwork surrounding the glass panes and doors. For me, it exudes the elegance of yesteryear, from the painted ceiling frescoes in the lobby, antique divans, and tapestried chairs, to the handcrafted fireplace and baby grand piano.

The Lodge at Wakulla Springs. Photo by Jobi Bridgers Cook

The roof, while not original, is made of slate and metal on steel. This makes the entire edifice—from eaves to gables to soffits—fireproof. In the summertime, chimney swifts roost in the smokestack of the hearth, gluing their cup-shaped nests of twigs to the inside of the flue with saliva.

The Lodge at Wakulla Springs State Park Offers Fine Dining and Ice Cream Parlor

Guests and visitors alike can enjoy a meal of fine dining in the Edward Ball Dining Room. They are sure to savor appetizers with a touch of the South—fried pickles or fried green tomatoes—followed by handheld favorites such as fish tacos or main dish entrees like steaks, crab cakes, chicken and waffles, and stuffed shrimp.

Both guests of the Lodge at Wakulla Springs Park and visitors to the park are welcome to have a meal in the dining room. Photo by Gustavo Lillo

Not particularly a fan of fancy restaurants with cloth napkins and maître d’s myself, I prefer instead to sample an ice cream when I visit. The ice cream parlor boasts the world’s longest marble soda fountain—a whopping 70-feet long. What renders this old-fashioned parlor so popular? It’s the guest favorite, and mine—a Ginger Yip— made by combining vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of ginger syrup and soda water, blended together like a milkshake.

The Ginger Yip is the specialty at the ice cream parlor. During the sweltering summer, the soda fountain is THE place to hang out. Photo by Gustavo Lillo

Customers can savor the goodness of a soda fountain treat as they browse through the delightful gift shop or engage in a round of checkers with oversized playing pieces on old-timey gaming tables.

Old Joe Alligator Prominently Displayed in Lobby at The Lodge at Wakulla Springs

Encased in glass, the taxidermized remains of Old Joe, an 11-foot-2-inch, 650-lb. alligator hold a place of distinction between the lodge’s lobby and the refreshment bar. Suspected of being more than 200 years old, the gator took up residence in the springs around the turn of the 20th century. Old Joe was found sunk to the bottom of the basin on August 1, 1966, but the reptile’s killer—a poacher with a .22 rifle—was never found. Handsomely mounted to show off his winning smile, the stuffed gator is displayed next to the $5,000 reward sign for the capture of the murderer. Although someone did eventually confess to Old Joe’s assassination, the reward went unclaimed. In 1981, the reward was withdrawn upon the death of Edward Ball, its benefactor.

Old Joe, legendary gator, encased in glass at the Lodge at Wakulla Springs Park. Photo by Gustavo Lillo

Birds Dominate the Woods and Wetlands of Wakulla Springs State Park

In the 1980s, the State of Florida purchased the springs and subsequently converted it into a government park. Thousands of visitors arrive every year, eager to take advantage of all that Wakulla Springs State Park has to offer. Swimming in the chilly waters, hiking, picnicking under tall trees, biking or equestrian-trail riding, and birding draw visitors. My husband and I particularly enjoyed birding in the area. Jaunts around the property just after dawn afford glimpses of anhingas, grebes, and limpkins. Hear a distressed cry that sounds like a baby? Scan the surroundings for the sudden emergence of a limpkin, head down, scrambling through the brambles, searching for a favorite meal of apple snails. We never fail to be amused by the cries of these gangly, speckled waders, related to the cranes.

Limpkin in the wetlands of Wakulla Springs State Park. Photo by Gustavo Lillo

Miles of Trails Meander Through Forests and Marshes at Wakulla Springs State Park

Hiking is another favorite pastime at the park. About a dozen miles of walking paths meander through floodplains and hammocks of evergreens, shrubs, and ferns. For a great workout, take the 6-mile (one-way) Sally Ward trail to encounter a couple of sinkholes, a beech-magnolia forest with towering hardwoods, and lower-elevation plains seasonally inundated by the nearby streams. Tree roots serpentine across the trail, flanked by frilly bottlebrush grasses and patches of flowering Virginia creepers.

Any time of the year, you can discover great hiking areas at Wakulla Springs. Photo by Jobi Bridgers Cook

Water flows under the bridge at the Sally Ward Spring Run and merges with the Wakulla River until it reaches the Gulf of Mexico, 14 miles away. This bayou is the perfect breeding ground for swamp lilies—clumps of bright-green-leaved perennials which spawn pink, trumpet-shaped flowers in late summer to fall. Spider lilies, too, fan out from the boggy terrain, blooming in wispy white tendrils.

Spiders and Crawlies on Trails at Wakulla Springs State Park

While on the trails, keep an eye out for golden orb weavers and their magnificent webs. Commonly called banana spiders, these long-legged arachnids weave intricate and ornate labyrinths of silk-like netting. Other insects found on the half-mile Hammock Spur trail include two-toned striped grasshoppers springing from leaf-to-leaf amongst thick canopies of American beech, swamp chestnut oak, and pignut hickories.

Wakulla Springs is the perfect place to find Walking Sticks, or stick insects that blend into the background, and inchworms—fluorescent-green caterpillars with minuscule, almost microscopic black booties on the tips of their legs.

The golden orb weaver, or banana spider, has webs that are extremely strong; even a harsh wind can’t blow them away. Photo by Gustavo Lillo

Listening to Nature on Hammock Spur Trail at Wakulla Springs

Well-maintained wooden boardwalks straddle pools of marshland, riddled by algae the color of pea soup. Cypress trees, both bald and pond—its junior version—dominate the terrain. Arbors at the center of the swamp grow higher than those at the edge, creating a dome-like shape of treetops, which can be seen when viewed from a distance. These periodic cypress domes serve as the nursery for Wakulla Springs’ large variety of amphibians. Along the trails, you’ll enjoy the dramatic symphony of frog calls wafting through the forest after an afternoon thundershower. Visitors might also hear the hammering of red-bellied woodpeckers against beechwood saplings.

Swamp cypress trees with hanging Spanish moss in Wakulla Springs State Park. Photo by Dietmar Rauscher via iStock by Getty Images

Jungle Cruise Boats Once Again Ply the Wakulla River at Wakulla Springs State Park

Experience a guided nature tour of the Wakulla River aboard a beloved jungle cruise boat. Cruises depart from the springs and offer guests a 45-minute wildlife and bird-watching excursion. During the ride, you will hear about the area’s history, environment, and wildlife.

Hop on board the Jungle Boat Cruise at Wakulla Springs. Photo by Jobi Bridgers Cook

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Experience Wakulla Springs State Park’s History

Wakulla Springs State Park has earned its varied and colorful history. Extinct mammalian elephants once roamed the park’s jungles, browsing for plants. Indigenous Americans skimmed the springs’ surface in handmade dugout canoes. It was here that Florida secured its claim to Hollywood legend. I don’t expect to see Tarzan wrestling with the local reptiles or gliding through the glacial waters in a loincloth; however, it is altogether within the realm of possibility to see the offspring of one of those big alligators he so fearlessly wrangled in the 40s.

Wakulla Springs State Park in Florida. Photo by Jobi Bridgers Cook