White Springs is a town in

North Florida North Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida comprising the northernmost part of the state. Along with South Florida and Central Florida, it is one of Florida's three most common "directional" regi ...

, United States, on the

Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River or Swanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the Southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrog ...

. It was developed as a tourist attraction for its mineral spring water baths. The population was 740 at the 2020 census. Home of the annual Florida Folk Festival, it is a tourist destination noted for historic charm, antique shops, and river recreation.

History

The Suwannee River was once the boundary between the Timucuan peoples to the east and the Apalachee people to the west. When Spanish explorers visited the area in the 1530s, the spring was visited by Natives from both sides of the river, who believed the water possessed healing powers. The Native Americans considered the spring a sacred healing ground, and used it even in times of war; any tribe member could bathe and drink the

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It is usually still, but may be sparkling ( carbonated/ effervescent). Traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at t ...

s without fear of being attacked. The spring water has a "rotten egg"

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

smell that comes from dissolved

hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is toxic, corrosive, and flammable. Trace amounts in ambient atmosphere have a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. Swedish chemist ...

gas. The settlement was formed in 1831 as Jackson Springs by businessmen Joseph Bryant, James T. Hooker, his brother William B. Hooker, John Lee, and James D. Prevatt. In addition to the spring, they planned to build a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

across the Suwannee River. The following year, Bryant Sheffield purchased the ferry operation rights and the spring, then known as "White Sulpher icSprings". Sheffield drank the mineral waters and touted their ability to cure nervousness,

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

troubles, and

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

, among other problems. In 1842, he constructed a hotel and

spring house A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing str ...

from local timber. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, some Confederate soldiers found refuge in the town from Union troops. The family of future governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, whose

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

farm was burned by Union forces, moved to a nearby farm which they named "Rebel's Refuge". At some point, the springs were renamed "White Sulphur Springs". Following the Civil War, the tourist business slowly returned. In 1882, the

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

merchants Wight and Powell purchased the property and platted city lots. They sold parcels to other retailers to open businesses catering to plantations and resorts around the spring. Crowds of health seekers arrived, first by

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

and then

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. The Town of White Springs was incorporated as a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in 1885. Hotels and boarding houses popped up; a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

attracted buyers and sellers; and fashionable clothing and hats were offered for sale. Leisure activities included ballroom dancing,

lawn tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and

skating Skating involves any sports or recreational activity which consists of traveling on surfaces or on ice using skates, and may refer to: Ice skating *Ice skating, moving on ice by using ice skates **Figure skating, a sport in which individuals, ...

. In 1903, the spring was enclosed by concrete and

coquina Coquina () is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically sorted fragments of mollusks, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. The term ''coquina'' comes from the S ...

walls that included multiple water gates and galleries to prevent water intrusion from river flooding. A four-story wooden bathhouse was constructed around the spring. The structure was designed by the Jacksonville architectural firm McClure & Holmes for owner Minnie Mosher Jackson, and included doctors' offices for patient examination and treatment, dressing rooms, space for concessions, and an elevator. At the time, water flow was calculated at 32,400 gallons per minute, or nearly 47 million gallons per day. During the 1930s, bathing in mineral springs fell out of favor in the United States and the town began to fade. In 1950, the Stephen Foster Memorial Museum opened to commemorate songwriter

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Folk music, folk music during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He wr ...

, composer of the world-renowned song of the Suwannee River, "

Old Folks at Home "Old Folks at Home" (also known as " Swanee River") is a folk song written by Stephen Foster in 1851. Since 1935, it has been the official state song of Florida, although in 2008 the original lyrics were revised. It is Roud Folk Song Index ...

". The museum is surrounded by formal gardens which extend to the banks of the Suwannee River. A

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

containing the world's largest set of

tubular bells Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the Percussion instrument, percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillons, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the soun ...

, "Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center"
Yahoo! Travel opened in 1957 and plays Foster's songs throughout the day. The facility is a Florida State Park. Through the 1980s, water flow at the spring declined to the point when it ceased flowing in 1990. The ex-mayor of White Springs, Dr. Helen Miller, was vice chairman of Florida Leaders Organized for Water (FLOW), a group which proposed the Floridan Aquifer Sustainability Act of 2013. The legislation seeks to restore the Floridan aquifer to 1980 levels. In 2022, a

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

neo-pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some common simila ...

religion known as the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), dedicated a Viking neo-pagan

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

in White Springs. The temple for the

hate group A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other designated sector of society. Acc ...

is dedicated to the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

god Njord and is called "Njordshof" which means "Njord's temple" in

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

, the language of the Vikings.

Geography

The approximate coordinates for the Town of White Springs is located in southeastern Hamilton County at (30.331647, –82.756008). Its southern boundary follows the

, which forms the border with Columbia County. The town is crossed by U.S. Route 41 ( SR 25 and 100) and SR 136. US 41 leads northwest to

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

, the Hamilton County seat, and southeast to Lake City. SR 136 leads west to Interstate 75. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which , or 0.11%, are water.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, the Town of White Springs has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

zone (''Cfa'').

Demographics

2010 and 2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 740 people, 464 households, and 282 families residing in the town. As of the 2010 United States census, there were 777 people, 316 households, and 207 families residing in the town.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 819 people, 340 households, and 227 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 393 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 36.75%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 62.15%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.37% Native American, and 0.73% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.37% of the population. In 2000, there were 340 households, out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 26.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.2% were non-families. 29.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.93. In 2000, in the town, the population was spread out, with 30.3% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.7 males. In 2000, the median income for a household in the town was $24,861, and the median income for a family was $32,115. Males had a median income of $31,953 versus $21,250 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $15,555. About 20.0% of families and 22.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 22.3% of those under age 18 and 26.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The Hamilton County School District operates the public schools serving White Springs, Hamilton County Elementary School and Hamilton County High School, both in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

of the county. South Hamilton Elementary School in White Springs formerly served the city; it was consolidated into a new elementary school, Hamilton County Elementary School, located in an unincorporated area south of

. Its opening was scheduled for August 2017. The Suwannee River Regional Library System operates the White Springs Public Library.

Historic architecture

Many of the original Victorian buildings survive, particularly within the White Springs Historic District, established in 1997 by the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Florida Folk Festival

The town and state park are the site of the annual Florida Folk Festival, a four-day celebration of traditional Florida food, arts, and music. The event, first held in 1953, is one of the oldest continuous folk festivals in the United States.

Gallery

File:South Hamilton Elementary School, White Springs.JPG, South Hamilton Elementary School (now closed) File:White Springs post office.JPG, White Springs Post Office Image:Johns House White Springs03.jpg, Historic Johns House Image:White Springs Hist Dist Adams House01a.jpg, Adams House in the historic district File:Adams Country Store, White Springs.jpg, Adams Country Store

References

External links

Town of White Springs official website

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center

Homepage of the Florida Folklife Collection (housed at the State Archives of Florida) which includes thousands of images and recordings of the Florida Folk Festival; held annually in White Springs, Florida
{{authority control Towns in Hamilton County, Florida Towns in Florida Suwannee River Springs of Florida