Since early time, Florida Caverns have had interest. They were first mentioned in writings by Friar Barreda, who was with the first overland expedition made by the Spaniards to Pensacola Bay. The following paragraph is in the Friar’s own words, written 256 years ago:

“On June 12 (1693) we continued northwest and after we had journeyed a little more than three leagues ... we reached an abandoned village of the Choctaw tribe called San Nicholas where I came to preach the holy gospel in the year 1674. Here we spent the night in the hollow of such a beautiful and unusual rock that I can state positively that more than 200 men could be lodged most comfortably in it. Inside, there is a brook which gushes from the living rock.”

Experts, who know how to read stories told in the designs on Indian pottery, state that the caves were known to the Indians of this section long before the coming of the Spaniards. There is considerable evidence that Indians, even prior to 1693, had been in the habit of using Florida Caverns and caves in the vicinity for shelter during their hunting trips into the region and for refuge from their enemies. In some of the smaller and dry caves there have been found potsherds, or small broken pieces of Indian pottery. According to the archaeologist, all of the sherds so far discovered are of a late post-Columbian type. Ashes from fires, dead for many years, flint arrowheads, and animal bones have also been found.

Several times in history, Florida Caverns—a nature-made shelter—was used as a refuge from armed forces. During Andrew Jackson’s punitive expedition against the Indians in 1818, a large band of Indians escaped from his soldiers by concealing themselves within the underground caves. Again, during the War Between the States, an outfit of Union soldiers en route to Pensacola was resisted by a home guard unit from Marianna, composed of men too young or too old to fight in the armies of the Confederacy. While the battle was raging, women, children and slaves took refuge in Florida Caverns.

A clear spring, which in reality is a subterranean river, rising out of the lime rock, sends its lovely azure stream down through the park over a mile before it enters the Chipola River. The Chipola Natural Bridge, located in the park, is a fourth-mile long and has been restored to its original interesting geological condition with the removal of logs and lumber which had jammed into it in bygone days when the river was used to float them down to a mill.

Open the year round, Florida Caverns State Park is comparable in interest to Carlsbad Caverns, N. M., Mammoth Caves, Ky., and Luray Caverns, Va.

In addition to its geological attractions, the area in which Florida Caverns is located is of peculiar interest biologically. In it are found many species of both plants and animals that are not expected so far south, as well as a large number of typically southern forms.

The State Park system of Florida has been developed as a coordinated group of Parks, each one of which stands upon its own merits and each one possessing as many as possible of the following values: Outstanding historic, scenic and scientific attractions. Florida Caverns is richly endowed with them all.

I hope that you have found this discussion of the creation of lime rock, the formation of caves under water, the elevation of these caves above permanent water levels and the subsequent deposition in them, of interest.... We of the Florida Geological Survey and Florida Park Service hope that you enjoy your visit to the Florida Caverns State Park.