Last Updated: August 2, 2026
White Springs grew up around a sulphur spring, and the spring has a longer history than the town. The Suwannee River here was the boundary between the territory of the Timucua to the east and the Apalachee to the west, and the spring on its bank was regarded as sacred healing ground — neutral territory where even nations at war observed a truce in order to bathe in it. Spanish explorers recorded the custom. Later the Americans built on it: Bryant Sheffield put up a hotel and a spring house in 1836, a multi-storey bathhouse followed, and White Springs became, by most accounts, Florida’s first tourist attraction. The town was a refuge during the Civil War. The spring eventually stopped flowing — by around 1990 it was finished — and the surrounding country never developed the way the rest of Florida did. What is left is the river, and the quiet.
White Springs, Florida
Fewer than a thousand people live here. There is not a great deal to see or do, and that was precisely the point.
This was a week to stop and recharge — no sightseeing, no shopping, no errands. Sandy did finally catch up on the laundry. We had stayed here before and had been looking forward to coming back. That earlier visit was the same time of year and the rhododendrons and dogwoods were out in force; this year spring was running late and we caught only the beginning of it.
The River Stephen Foster Never Saw
The Suwannee is one of the most famous rivers in America, and it is famous for a song written by a man who never laid eyes on it. Stephen Foster composed Old Folks at Home in 1851 for E. P. Christy’s minstrel troupe, and he needed a two-syllable Southern river for the opening line. He tried Yazoo. He tried Pedee. Neither worked. His brother Morrison went to an atlas in their Pittsburgh office, found the Suwannee, and Stephen said, “That’s it, that’s it exactly.” He spelled it “Swanee” to fit the meter. Florida adopted the song as its state song in 1935, and in 2008 the legislature revised the lyrics to remove the original’s racist language while keeping the song.
The state has built a park around all of this. Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park sits on the river at White Springs with a carillon tower that plays Foster’s music across the water, and the historic Spring House — the coquina-and-cement bathhouse from the spa era — still stands at the park’s edge on U.S. 41, above the spring that no longer runs. Standing there, it is a strange three-layer thing: a sacred site, then a health resort, then a state park built to honour a song about a river its composer imagined.
Just upstream, Big Shoals State Park has something nowhere else in Florida does — actual whitewater. When the river runs between 59 and 61 feet above sea level the shoals rate Class III, and limestone bluffs stand eighty feet above the water. It is not what anyone pictures when they picture Florida.
Lunch was fried fish at Fat Belly’s, surrounded by some genuinely funny wall art.
The hardware store has everything and then some — including live chickens and live bait. This is the kind of shop that has largely vanished elsewhere, and it is worth twenty minutes even if you need nothing.
Old soda pop bottles, if that is what you came for.
Sandy found sticks of dynamite next to a safe, and visibly thought about it for a second.
SVR, White Springs
SVR is an adults-only, clothing-optional resort, and it is one of our favorite stops in Florida. We have stayed here before and expect to keep coming back. Full hookups, and WiFi good enough to stream some of the time. An now, with Starlink, it doesn’t matter.
We would not describe ourselves as nudists, and the reasons we keep booking these places have very little to do with clothing. They are adults only. The pools and hot tubs are spotless — better maintained than almost any conventional park we have stayed in. And the people are consistently friendly and easy company. Most RV parks now run on two-night stays: everybody is in a hurry, nobody talks, there are televisions and speakers going outside, and the weekend party crowd arrives on Friday. Clothing-optional resorts are simply not like that. Guests stay longer, they know one another, and they make room for you. In practice most people are at least partially dressed most of the time — it is only required around the pool and hot tub, and otherwise the weather decides what you wear, same as anywhere. What we quickly becomes obvious is that clothes don’t matter other than for protection from the elements.
The one real drawback is that none of the roads or sites are paved, so sand comes inside with every trip in and out — the same problem we had at Oak Hill, and the same answer: a serious doormat and a shoes-off rule. Against that, there is a pool heated to 85 degrees and a very large hot tub, plus pickleball, petanque, rustic golf and hiking trails. Lounging by the pool and pickleball are what most people actually do. At weekends there is a full bar and restaurant with occasional live music that doesn’t go late.
The best of it was the people — old friends found again and new ones made. There is one small sadness: the property used to have enormous pet rabbits wandering everywhere, and there are far fewer now. We suspect the coyotes have been working through them.
Their pet cemetery — which tells you something about how long people stay here, and how much the place means to them.
Lake City and the Olustee Festival
Lake City is about twenty minutes from the resort, and we went in for the Olustee Festival — an arts and crafts show with a great many vendors and food trucks. We ate hot dogs and bought a lemon-scented candle to deal with the occasional consequence of travelling with a large dog.
The festival is named for something considerably heavier than crafts. The Battle of Olustee was fought a few miles east of Lake City on February 20, 1864 — the largest Civil War battle in Florida. Roughly 5,500 Union troops under Brigadier General Truman Seymour attacked about 5,000 entrenched Confederates under Brigadier General Joseph Finegan and were repulsed with about 1,861 casualties against 946 Confederate. It was a decisive Confederate victory that ended Union operations in the state’s interior. The 54th Massachusetts and the 35th United States Colored Troops covered the Union retreat, and there are credible accounts of Confederate troops killing wounded and captured Black soldiers after the fighting stopped. The battlefield is preserved as a state park, and the town has commemorated the anniversary every February for decades.
Afterwards we walked the streets and found a large mural of a Florida spring run — turtle, fish and tubers — painted across the side of a building.
We came away from Suwannee Valley with exactly what we came for — sunshine, hot tubs and company.
Visiting White Springs: Addresses, Hours and Fees
SVR — 786 NW Stephen Foster Drive, White Springs, Florida 32096, 386-487-4996, suwanneevalleyresort.com. An adults-only, clothing-optional RV resort run under AANR and TNS guidelines. RV and tent sites with 30 and 50-amp service and sewer; unpaved roads and sites. Pool, hot tub and sauna, restaurant and bar at weekends, pickleball, petanque, rustic golf, nature trails, a dog park and a pet cemetery. Pets welcome. A temporary membership is required for each camper — arrange it when you book rather than at the gate.
Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park — on the Suwannee at White Springs off U.S. 41, with the carillon tower, the museum and the historic Spring House. Big Shoals State Park — Big Shoals entrance at 18738 SE 94th Street, White Springs, Florida 32096; Little Shoals entrance at 11330 SE County Road 135. Open 8:00 a.m. to sundown, 365 days a year. Entry is $4 per vehicle, $2 for pedestrians and cyclists. Over 28 miles of trails, limestone bluffs standing 80 feet above the river, and Class III whitewater when the Suwannee runs between 59 and 61 feet above sea level — the largest rapids in Florida.
In town: Fat Belly’s for fried fish, and Suwannee Hardware — suwanneehardware.com — for absolutely everything else, including live bait and chickens. Lake City is about twenty minutes away and holds the Olustee Festival each February; Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park is a few miles further east on U.S. 90.
Practical Tips for White Springs
Come here to stop, not to sightsee. White Springs is a town of under a thousand people and the appeal is that nothing is demanded of you. If you have been moving every few days, this is the place to stay put for a week.
Sort out the sand. Nothing at Suwannee Valley is paved. A heavy doormat, a shoes-off rule at the step and a decent vacuum make the difference between a relaxing week and a gritty one.
Ask before you photograph. This is the one thing to get right at a clothing-optional resort. There is a strict no photography policy. Get permission if considering putting in your blog.
Book the membership when you book the site. A temporary membership is required for every camper. Doing it in advance saves a conversation at the gate.
Check the river level before Big Shoals. The rapids only rate Class III between 59 and 61 feet on the Suwannee gauge. Outside that window it is still a beautiful walk under 80-foot limestone bluffs, but the whitewater will not be there.
Time a visit for late February or March. The rhododendrons and dogwoods come out, and the Olustee Festival falls in February. Our earlier visit caught the bloom at its peak; this one arrived a week or two early.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is White Springs, Florida called that? For the sulphur spring on the bank of the Suwannee River. The Suwannee formed the boundary between Timucua and Apalachee territory, and the spring was treated as sacred neutral ground where even hostile nations observed a truce to bathe in the water. Bryant Sheffield built a hotel and spring house in 1836, a bathhouse followed, and the town became Florida’s first tourist attraction. The spring has since stopped flowing, but the historic Spring House still stands.
Did Stephen Foster ever see the Suwannee River? No. He wrote Old Folks at Home in 1851 and never visited Florida. He needed a two-syllable Southern river for the opening line, rejected the Yazoo and the Pedee, and his brother Morrison found the Suwannee in an atlas in Pittsburgh. Foster spelled it “Swanee” to fit the meter. Florida made it the state song in 1935 and revised the lyrics in 2008 to remove the original racist language.
Does Florida have whitewater rapids? Yes, in exactly one place. Big Shoals on the Suwannee at White Springs reaches Class III when the river runs between 59 and 61 feet above sea level, beneath limestone bluffs 80 feet high. Entry to Big Shoals State Park is $4 per vehicle.
What is the Olustee Festival? An arts, crafts and food festival held each February in Lake City, commemorating the Battle of Olustee — fought on February 20, 1864 and the largest Civil War battle in Florida. About 5,500 Union troops attacked roughly 5,000 entrenched Confederates and were driven back with some 1,861 casualties. The battlefield is preserved as a state park east of town.
Why stay at a clothing-optional resort? For us it is not really about clothing. These resorts are adults only, the pools and hot tubs are noticeably better kept than at conventional parks, and the guests are friendly and inclined to talk because they tend to stay for weeks rather than nights. Ordinary RV parks have become places of short stays, outdoor televisions and weekend party crowds. Most guests at a clothing-optional resort are dressed most of the time; it is generally only required around the pool and hot tub.
Can you take photographs at a clothing-optional resort? No
Next, our last visits to the southern east coast beaches before turning inland and then northwest — starting at Hanna Park in Jacksonville.
