The Silver River is a short spring-fed river located east of

Ocala Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

Marion County, Florida Marion County is located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,908. Its county seat is Ocala. Marion County comprises the Ocala, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. it includes part ...

. Fed by Silver Springs, it connects the springs to the

Ocklawaha River The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 21, 2011 Ocklawaha River flows north from central Florida until it joins the St. Johns River near Palatka. Its name is derive ...

, passing through a pristine woodland environment. The river was probably named for its silvery appearance.

Geography and hydrology

The Silver River drains Silver Springs, located in the

Silver Springs State Park Silver Springs State Park, formerly known as Silver River State Park, is a Florida state park located on the Silver River in Marion County. The park contains Silver Springs, Florida's first tourist attraction. The Silver Springs attraction da ...

Silver Springs, Florida Silver Springs is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marion County, Florida, United States. It is the site of Silver Springs, a group of artesian springs and a historic tourist attraction that is now part of Si ...

approximately east of

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

. The river flows east from the springs, being joined by an unnamed tributary creek from the north just east of the park, for approximately before joining the Ocklawaha River just south of the Bert Dosh Memorial Bridge.Boning 2007, p.160.

Ecology

The Silver River flows through an undeveloped woodland just to the west of the

Ocala National Forest The Ocala National Forest ls the second largest nationally protected forest in the U.S. State of Florida. It covers of northern Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) east of Ocala and southeast of Gainesville. The Ocala National For ...

; the water quality is considered excellent, and the river is regarded as being in pristine condition. Many types of turtles are found in the Silver River, while

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

s and

anhinga The anhinga (; ''Anhinga anhinga''), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word ''anhinga'' comes from ''a'ñinga'' in the Brazilian Tupi language and means ...

s breed along its banks.Boning 2007, p.161.

Rhesus monkey The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies that are split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally b ...

s were released at Silver Springs in the 1930s, and became feral; they remain present along the river's run and can be seen when traveling the river. The Silver River is designated under the

Outstanding Florida Waters Outstanding Florida Waters are rivers, lakes and other water features designated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under authority of Section 403.061 (27), Florida Statutes as "worthy of special protection because of thei ...

program.

History and recreation

The first known human settlement in the Silver River area was by the

Timucua people The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The var ...

; Europeans arrived in the 1820s, with

Fort King Fort King (also known as Camp King or Cantonment King) was a United States military fort in north central Florida, near what later developed as the city of Ocala. It was named after Colonel William King, commander of Florida's Fourth Infantry and ...

being established near the Silver Springs in 1827. The springs became a tourist attraction in the 1870s; the first

glass-bottom boat A glass-bottom boat is a boat with sections of glass, panoramic bottom glass or other suitable transparency (optics), transparent material, below the waterline allowing passengers to observe the underwater environment from within the boat. The v ...

was built to provide views of the springs in 1878. The river steamer ''Metamora'' sank near the Silver River's mouth in 1903. The parks around the river's source,

and the historic Silver Springs attraction, are noted tourist destinations; the river itself is considered to be excellent for exploration by canoe and kayak.

References

Bibliography

External links

{{authority control Tributaries of the Ocklawaha River Rivers of Florida Outstanding Florida Waters Rivers of Marion County, Florida