THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411040070
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HEIDI GLICK TRAVEL, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 235 lines
WHILE CRUISING down the Econfina River in North Central Florida, boaters native to the area point out a blue heron sitting atop a cluster of pine trees. Yellow pines, live oaks and palm trees decorate the 35-mile river bank. Interspersed are rustic houses, on stilts, with screened-in porches overlooking the water.
A little farther toward the Gulf of Mexico, the trees become less dense, making room for wide barren salt marshes where bald eagles nest.
As the boat rounds a bend, sightseers may think they've slipped into the 16th century and will soon catch a glimpse of the Spanish explorers.
The boat sways back and forth as it glides through the tea-colored river. The locals point again - this time at a brown pelican swooping overhead.
Although it's a Saturday afternoon in ideal autumn weather, the river is vacant, save for an occasional drifting motorboat.
Unlike Central Florida, which includes the Disney World metropolis, North Central Florida hasn't changed all that drastically since the Spanish exploration of the 1500s.
Natural water springs are more plentiful than souvenirs. Fish for speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, tarpon or mullet and, locals boast, you'll rarely find a specimen under legal size. Quenching a thirst is as easy as squeezing out a handful of fresh water from a 3-inch-long red ginger bud.
About a two-hour drive north of Orlando, the area of North Central Florida is made up of 11 counties between Jacksonville and Tallahassee. Two of those counties border on the Gulf of Mexico where rivers like the Econfina meet it.
The 7,000-square-mile area has no air pollution.
It is also home to the largest concentration of bald eagles east of the Mississippi River, as well as other rare and endangered plants and animals.
A source of pride for the region is its natural and often primitive waterways, like the Econfina and, especially, the Suwannee River.
Made famous by Stephen Foster's song ``Old Folks At Home,'' song, the Suwannee River is one of the least-disturbed and cleanest rivers in the state. It is also the site of a major land-acquisition program.
In 1981 the state started the most aggressive program in the nation to save its rivers. So far, Florida has bought 58,000 acres of land - 100 miles on the Suwannee.
People who vacation to North Central Florida get ``approachable wilderness,'' rather than high-rise condominiums, amusement parks and chic restaurants.
A way to experience this wilderness in one of its purest forms is by taking a houseboat cruise on the Suwannee.
Sleeping up to eight, a houseboat comes equipped with a refrigerator, range, dishes and a two-way radio. No television. No phone. No car. No hotel reservations.
The only sounds are crickets and the swish of the water as the houseboat glides down the Suwannee.
Vacationers get a 35-minute instruction on how to navigate the boat and then they're on their own for one night, a weekend or a week. The boat has storage space for a canoe, snorkeling and diving equipment, and fishing gear.
``It is so non-stressful,'' says Gloria Miller, one of the owners of Miller's Marina. ``Your vacation literally starts when you step on board.''
Navigate up and down the river and drop anchor when you want to swim, snorkel or eat a meal. Miller says some vacationers go a mile or two upriver and never move again for the week.
Not surprisingly, the river is secluded with heavily forested banks. On this day one houseboater thinks she sees a porpoise jumping up out of the water. Sturgeon and manatees are also commonly found in the water.
``It's so natural that my wife and I have been known to go skinny dipping and not worry about it - in the middle of the day,'' says Chuck, a local.
The Suwannee River contains more than 70 freshwater springs, one being Peacock Springs, the site of the second-largest interconnected underwater cave system in the world (Mexico has the largest).
Because the temperature of the springs is always 72 degrees, divers come here in the winter from Australia, Italy, France, Germany and Spain.
After a short walk through oaks and soft woods, vacationers will wander upon a small wooden deck - an exit for divers into the spring. The water is clear with small bubbles constantly popping up to the surface. The springs form when fresh water from aquifers finds its way to the surface through cracks in the limestone.
Although 15,000 tourists a year visit Peacock Springs, on this October day they're deserted. The only sign of civilization is a picnic table and a wooden sign warning divers that since 1960, 48 people have died while diving the springs; the majority of the deaths resulting from open water divers going into the caves.
``They see the cave entrance and it's like a vacuum cleaner,'' Park Officer Joe McGrath says, peering into the water. ``It wants to suck you in. It's crystal clear going in but when you're going out and kicking up that silt, it's dark.''
Aside from diving, the various springs offer primitive hiking trails, swimming, fishing and tubing.
At the Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center northeast of the Peacock Springs, visitors can get a dose of Southern history - learn, for instance, that Foster wrote his famous tribute to the Suwannee River without ever seeing it.
Inside the Foster museum are animated dioramas depicting scenes from his songs, like cotton plantations and a ghostlike image of Jeanie from ``Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair.''
Foster was criticized for his song ``Old Black Joe,'' a tribute to a slave, explains tour guide Elaine McGrath. ``Back then it was unheard of for a white man to write pleasantly of a black man.''
But today, McGrath says, Foster is still criticized - this time for referring to blacks as ``darkies'' in his songs, even though back before the Civil War - when blacks had no say in the matter - ``darkies'' was a commonly used term.
``It was a no-win situation,'' she adds. ``He was criticized for writing it then and he's criticized today.''
Within the 247-acre park is a craft square where visitors can see how items as common as spoons were made by hand. Jean Davidoff, wearing a clay-smeared apron, sits at a pottery wheel. Her portly face is flushed red. As the woman's foot pumps the machine pedal, expert hands shape a clump of spinning clay into a bowl.
At another small cracker-style house in the square, Blacksmith ``Skeeter'' Prather is molding iron over a burning flame. ``Working iron,'' he says, ``is the foundation of modern civilization.''
With one leg propped up on a log, Tuck Russell whittles away at a piece of wood to make a palmetto brush for suede. Even his business cards are made from scraps of wood.
The Foster center is in White Springs, a quaint Victorian town with only one hotel, called the Telford. White Springs wasn't always so small. At the turn of the century, before Orlando and Miami existed, the train lines didn't go farther south than White Springs (which is right below the Georgia border).
Wealthy Northerners, sporting the latest European fashions, came here to vacation, say local historians. At that time the city had 16 hotels. A fire in 1911 burned them all down except the still existing tin-roofed Telford.
But this quaint little city - as well as most of North Central Florida - doesn't seem bothered that a vast majority of tourists skip right by it on their way down to Disney, Miami Beach or Key West.
And that may be the finest recommendation for the area.
Other places to visit or stay in north-central Florida:
Steinhatchee Landing: To enjoy the rustic nature of the Gulf region yet still have the amenities of an exclusive resort, visit Steinhatchee Landing, a sleepy fishing village off the Steinhatchee River.
The resort has an array of newly built Victorian and Georgian style villas, nestled in between pines, moss oaks and palms. The area offers hunting for deer, ducks, turkey and wild boar and freshwater and saltwater fishing.
But just the same you can picture yourself in the movie ``Gone with the Wind'' looking off into the forested banks of the river from a Victorian wrap-around porch.
The Landing's Restaurant offers fine dining and fine wine. I like the moist and tasty crab cakes. Info: (904) 498-3513.
Spirit of the Suwannee Park: Located in Live Oak, the park hosts Florida's largest annual country music and camping event.
This year more than 30,000 people came out to hear Billy Ray Cyrus, Sawyer Brown, George Jones, Tim McGraw and a host of other country singers.
The rest of the year, the 580-acre park is almost secluded. In the winter about 30 families from the North camp out at the park. Only three families live there year round.
Within the park is a canoe outpost leading to a spring-fed lake surrounded by trees. Sand whiter than snow borders the lake. Scattered around the park between RV camp sites are a playground, two mules munching on apples in a pasture and an old bunkhouse that's closed in summer because it lacks an air conditioning unit.
On Saturday nights everyone gets together to grind cane syrup and make biscuits. ``It's a big thing,'' says park resident Helen Hellriegel. Info: (800) 428-4147.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Historic Site at Cross Creek: The Pulitzer Prize-winning Rawlings describes life in cracker country in her book ``Cross Creek'':
``Cross Creek is a bend in a country road, by land, and the flowing of Lochloosa Lake into Orange Lake, by water. We are four miles west of the small village of Island Grove, nine miles east of a turpentine still, and on the other sides we do not count distance at all, for the two lakes and the broad marshes create an infinite space between us and the horizon.''
At this historic site, visitors can see what Rawlings saw as she plucked away on her typewriter half a century ago. Not much has changed. Her bed is in the same position as when she lived in the house, as is her hidden alcohol cabinet, the wood-burning stove on which she cooked and surrounding orange groves. Info: (904) 466-3672.
Herlong Mansion: Located in Micanopy (12 miles south of Gainesville), a town famous for its antiques shops, this bed-and-breakfast inn dates to 1875. Now a classic revival, the inn started out as a two-story home for the Herlong family, but grew in size as the family amassed its fortune through timber and citrus.
It was a dark and stormy night (no joke) on the evening that I arrived. The pouring rain and rumbling of thunder only enhanced innkeeper Sonny Howard's stories of the ghost of Inez who apparently roams the house.
It didn't help my overly paranoid mind that while unpacking, my door slowly swung open on its own - must've been the wind!
The place is decorated with thick mahogany and oak furniture, wood paneling and inlaid flooring.
Old black-and-white photos in dark bubble frames adorn the walls. Some of the photos of the original Herlong family hang on the wall, as well as framed love letters. The second floor opens into a veranda, spaced with four white columns, that looks out among Spanish-moss-covered oaks and pecan trees.
On the veranda is a green-cushioned swing big enough for two people to take a nap or just enjoy the serenity of the grounds. A narrow staircase with red plush carpeting leads to the third floor of rooms.
Each room has a full bath, ranging from an old-fashioned tub to a ceramic tiled jet-streamed tub that resembles a miniature pool.
A stay at the inn also includes a breakfast of homemade cooked pastries, sausages and fruit.
Warning: The Herlong Mansion is a place that's difficult to visit only once. Info: (904) 466-3322. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
HEIDI GLICK
Tuck Russell, above, whittles at the Stephen Foster State Folk
Culture Center. Right: A houseboat glides down the Suwannee River.
Map
Graphic
TRAVELER'S ADVISORY
Getting there: I flew Delta Air Lines to Gainesville, via
Atlanta. Delta is the only major airline that flies into
Gainesville. From there your best bet is to rent a car and drive to
the scenic areas that you wish to visit. Just south of the airport
are Micanopy, Cross Creek and the Herlong Mansion. Go northwest for
Peacock Springs and the Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center.
Keep traveling westward toward the Gulf of Mexico for sites such as
Steinhatchee Landing, the Econfina River and Miller's Houseboat
Cruise.
Some numbers to note:
Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center - (904) 397-4331
Econfina River Resort - (904) 584-2135
Peacock Springs State Recreation Area - (904) 497-2511
Steinhatchee Landing - (904) 498-3513
Suwannee Canoe Outpost - (800) 428-4171)
Suwannee River State Park - (904) 362-2746
Miller's Marina - (904) 542-7349
Florida Sports Hall of Fame and Tourist Welcome Center - (904)
758-1310
Paynes Prairie State Preserve - (904) 466-3397
Ichetucknee Springs State Park - (904) 497-2511
Devil's Millhopper State Geological Site - (904) 955-2008
Kanapaha Botanical Gardens - (904) 372-4981
Other information, call The Original Florida - (904) 758-1555
Heidi Glick
by CNB