Kingsley Lake is an almost perfectly
circular lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
of about in
North East
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, is located inside
Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman:
* Clay County, Alabama
* Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County)
* Clay County, Flor ...
about east of
Starke, Florida
Starke is a city in and the county seat of Bradford County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,796 at the 2020 census. The origin of the city's name is disputed. Starke may have been named in honor of local landowner George W. Cole's ...
. According to some sources, it is the oldest and highest lake in Florida, located on the edge of the Trail Ridge formation. The lake is a very stable lake with a sandy bottom. Its deepest point is about inside of a steep sinkhole within the lake.
Kingsley Lake is so nearly circular that pilots call it the "silver dollar lake". There are around 180
docks around the lake, mostly around the western half of the lake encompassing the small community of the same name.
Camp Blanding
Camp Blanding Joint Training Center is the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard, both the Florida Army National Guard and certain nonflying activities of the Florida Air National Guard. The installation is ...
is on the
eastern side of the lake as part of the
Florida National Guard, as well as a small
airstrip
An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...
just to the southeast of the lake as part of Camp Blanding. The lake is about 30 miles northeast of
Gainesville, 30 miles southwest of
Jacksonville, and 30 miles northwest of
Palatka.
Geological formation
The lake is thought to have formed as a
sinkhole
A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...
.
"Petition for Outstanding Florida Waters Designation: Geology"
/ref>
See also
* List of sinkholes of the United States
References
External links
Kingsley Lake Association
- web site that discusses the lake, community, and events
from the Kingsley Lake Association
- lake water chemistry data
* ttp://coastal.er.usgs.gov/stjohns/ofr616/kingsley.html USGS Open-File Report 94-616- seismic reflection surveys of Kingsley Lake
Kingsley Lake
*
Lakes of Florida
Lakes of Clay County, Florida
Landforms of Clay County, Florida
Sinkholes of Florida
Outstanding Florida Waters
Unincorporated communities in Clay County, Florida
Unincorporated communities in Florida
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