Tsala Apopka Lake is a chain of lakes located within a bend in the Withlacoochee River in

Citrus County Citrus County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 153,843. Its county seat is Inverness, and its largest community is Homosassa Springs. Citrus County compris ...

in north central

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 ...

. This area is known historically as the Cove of the Withlacoochee. Tsala Apopka Lake is composed of a number of lakes, swamps and marshes interspersed with islands, with a total open water surface area of about . It is spread through an area of about , bounded by State Road 200 to the north, State Road 48 to the south, the Withlacoochee River to the east, and

US 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

to the west. About one-quarter of the area is in mesic hammocks or

live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks. ...

scrub.

Modern water control

Modern water control structures manage the water flow and divide the chain of lakes into three pools, Floral City, Hernando and Inverness. Historically, water flowed between the Withlacoochee River and Tsala Apopka Lake through wetlands. The main source of water flow into the chain of lakes today is through canals from the Withlacoochee River into the Floral City Pool. Water from the Floral City Pool flows partly into the Inverness Pool, and partly back into the Withlacoochee through canals. Most of the outflow from the Inverness Pool goes to the Hernando Pool, and thence into the Withlacoochee River. Tsala Apopka Lake lies in an area that has been labeled by geologists as the Tsala Apopka Plain of the Western Valley and the Tsala Apopka Basin of the Ocala Uplift Physiographic District. Lake Tsala from bridge on Gobbler

Early settlers

The Cove of the Withlacoochee was occupied by

Indigenous peoples of Florida The indigenous peoples of Florida lived in what is now known as Florida for more than 12,000 years before the time of first contact with Europeans. However, the indigenous Floridians living east of the Apalachicola River had largely died out by t ...

for many centuries. As of 1984, 30 archaeological sites had been identified in the area, with evidence of occupation by people of the

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

Weeden Island The Weeden Island Cultures are a group of related archaeological cultures that existed during the Late Woodland period of the North American Southeast. The name for this group of cultures was derived from the Weedon Island site (despite the diss ...

, and

Safety Harbor Safety Harbor is a city on the west shore of Tampa Bay in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It was settled in 1823 and incorporated in 1917. The population was 16,884 at the 2010 census. History The area has been inhabited since the Stone ...

cultures. The

de Soto expedition Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire i ...

crossed the middle section of the Cove in 1539 before reaching the

Timucua 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 v ...

town of

Ocale Ocale was the name of a town in Florida visited by the Hernando de Soto expedition, and of a putative chiefdom of the Timucua people. The town was probably close to the Withlacoochee River at the time of de Soto's visit, and may have later been m ...

. The Duval Island archaeological site (8Ci5), at the southern end of the Cove, is a likely location for the town of Tocaste named in the chronicles of the de Soto expedition. Another archaeological site, Tatham Mound (8Ci203), contained burials of a few people killed by sword blows, and of at least 77 individuals who apparently died at close to the same time, perhaps from an epidemic disease introduce by the de Soto expedition. The area supported a large

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...

population before and during the Second Seminole War. The Wild Hog Scrub archaeological site (8Ci198) has been tentatively identified as Powell's Town,

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Asi-yahola in Muscogee language, Creek), named Billy Powell at birth in Alabama, became an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a S ...

's home at the beginning of the Second Seminole War. The Cove was a focus of military activity in the first year of the Second Seminole War, with large U.S. forces attacking the Seminoles there in December 1835, February–March 1836 and October–November 1836.

Notes

References

* * {{authority control Lakes of Citrus County, Florida Lakes of Florida Archaeological sites in Florida