Welcome to Blue Spring State Park

The largest spring on the St. Johns River, Blue Spring is a designated Manatee Refuge and the winter home (mid-November through March) to a growing population of West Indian Manatees. For centuries, the spring area was home for Native Americans. In 1766 it was visited by British botanist John Bartram, but it wasn´t until 1856 that it was settled by Louis Thursby and his family. The Thursby house, built in 1872, remains standing. The spring´s crystal clear, 73 degree water can be enjoyed by swimmers, snorkelers, and certified scuba divers with a partner.

For hundreds of years the Timucuan Indians made the spring area their home. The spring run, river and the surrounding swamps and uplands provided food, clothing, shelter and materials for tools and weapons. Snails gathered from sandbars were a staple food for these people. Over the centuries, the discarded shells formed a massive mound.

Three years after England acquired Florida from Spain, John Bartram, a prominent British botanist, explored the St. Johns in search of resources of value to the Crown. On January 4th, 1766, he rowed his boat past sunning alligators into the clear water of Blue Spring.

By the mid- 1800's most of the Indians had been killed or driven south and pioneer settlers took their place. In 1872, the Thursby family built a large frame home atop the Indians' shell mound, safe from the floodwaters of the St. Johns. The pilings of the steamboat dock remain, relics of a bygone era.

The same pristine beauty enjoyed by Florida's earliest residents still can be seen today. A self-guided boardwalk guides visitors through a lush hammock to Blue Spring.