Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

(Redirected from Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park)

State park in Florida, United States This article is about the tourist attraction and state park. For the place in Citrus County, Florida, see Homosassa Springs, Florida.

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Main entrance sign
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Location	Citrus County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	Homosassa Springs, Florida
Coordinates	28°48′00″N 82°35′17″W / 28.80000°N 82.58806°W / 28.80000; -82.58806
Governing body	Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Homosassa Springs
Wildlife State Park

Legend

Wildlife park/
West entrance

Visitor center/
Main entrance

US 19 / US 98

					Boat service (9:00 am – 3:30 pm)
					Tram service (9:00 am – 5:30 pm)

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is located near Homosassa Springs, Florida, in the United States. The park is one of the notable locations in the state to view manatees. Visitors can get close to the animals on a floating observatory. Black bears, bobcats, white-tailed deer, American alligators, and river otters have also been seen in the park. The park is also home to the hippopotamus Lu, famously known for his performances in many movies for the past 40 years. The park is officially named Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in honor of Elmyra Felburn Schiller (1943 – 2009), a benefactor of the Florida state park system.

History

Native Americans lived in the area of Homosassa Springs, Florida, long before the first non indigenous people entered the area. Within 200 years of encounter, the original inhabitants of the area were decimated by disease and colonial warfare. Soon after that, the area was resettled by several groups of Native Americans displaced from other areas, including the Seminoles and Miccosukee.

The springs are a historical attraction with documented accounts of tourism since the early 1900s. At that time, a railroad running along what is now Fishbowl Drive would let passengers off to walk a short trail to the spring. In the 1920s, the attraction was expanded to several structures that no longer exist, and a public swimming area was located at the spring. The 1940s led to more expansion, along with the construction of the first underwater observatory, which consisted of an iron tank with small windows on each side. The original 50-acre (20 ha) property was purchased in 1964 by the Norris Development Company, with an additional 100-acre (40 ha) surrounding property, and entertainment facilities and animal exhibits were added.

Many of the animals kept here were trained for TV and film from Ivan Tors Animal Actors, including Buck, a bear that was a stand-in on the 1960s television show Gentle Ben, and Lu, the oldest hippopotamus in North America. Lu is the only animal in the park not native to Florida, he was born at the San Diego Zoo on January 26, 1960, and appeared in the TV shows Daktari and Cowboy in Africa. He has lived in the park since 1964, and was declared an honorary citizen of Florida by Governor Lawton Chiles in the 1990s.

From 1978 until 1984, the land had several owners, until the Citrus County Commission purchased it as an environmentally sensitive area until the state of Florida could purchase the property as a Florida State Park.

Gallery

Sign by visitor center
Building
Mural
Waterfront
Observation deck

References

^ Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State park : History. Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 2021. Accessed November 2, 2021.
Christiansen, Kathleen. "Happy birthday, Lu! Florida's only resident hippo turns 60". orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
Strawbridge, Susan (January 20, 2017). "Celebrating Lu the Hippo's 57th Birthday". Hernando Sun. Retrieved May 4, 2018.

External links

Protected areas of Florida

Federal level

National parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades
National memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline
National monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas
National seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands
National forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola
National wildlife refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands
Other national protected areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
National Marine Sanctuaries	Florida Keys Key Largo (1975–1990) Looe Key (1981–1990)
National Estuarine Research Reserves	Apalachicola NERR Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Loxahatchee River Wekiva River

State level

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier–Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Price's Scrub Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Marks River St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef
Botanical garden parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks
Lakes, rivers and springs parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Three Rivers Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Troy Spring Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs
Recreation areas	Dead Lakes Gamble Rogers Memorial
Museums, historic sites, and archaeological sites	Addison Blockhouse Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield DeSoto Site Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater
Preserves and reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Disney Wilderness Estero Bay Green Cay Wetlands Fakahatchee Strand Hal Scott Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Tosohatchee Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh
State trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Jacksonville-Baldwin Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee
State forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Local level

Preserves and reserves	Boyd Hill Gumbo Limbo Moccasin Lake

v t e Zoos of Florida
Zoos	Big Cat Rescue Brevard Zoo Butterfly World Center for Great Apes Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens Dade City's Wild Things Everglades Alligator Farm Flamingo Gardens Good Earth Farm Gulf Breeze Zoo Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens Jungle Island Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory Monkey Jungle Naples Zoo Palm Beach Zoo Reptile World Serpentarium St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo Sarasota Jungle Gardens Suncoast Primate Sanctuary Tallahassee Museum White Oak Conservation Zoo Miami Zoological Wildlife Foundation ZooTampa at Lowry Park ZooWorld
Aquariums	Clearwater Marine Aquarium Dolphin Research Center Florida Aquarium Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, Inc Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park Gulf World Key West Aquarium Marineland of Florida Miami Seaquarium Mote Marine Laboratory Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science Pier Aquarium Sea Life Orlando Aquarium SeaQuest Fort Lauderdale South Florida Science Center and Aquarium St. Lucie County Aquarium Tarpon Springs Aquarium The Seas with Nemo & Friends (in Epcot) The Turtle Hospital
Animal theme parks	Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Discovery Cove Disney's Animal Kingdom Gatorland Lion Country Safari SeaWorld Orlando
Defunct zoos	Green Meadows Petting Farm

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