Green Springs Visions

Green Springs Main Boil

Green Springs is one of my favorite places in Florida. It is a place of profound beauty and some of the most unique sulfur springs in Florida. It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties did I know it even existed. I’d had grown up in Deltona and went to Gemini and Blue Springs quite often as a kid to swim in warm summer months. At the time Green Springs was still privately owned and it wasn’t until 2009 that it became a Volusia County Park. I was floored the first time I visited because it was only 10 minutes fro my house!

Cobb Seep Waterfall

As my photography began to grow a few years ago I was always drawn to the distinct beauty of the green waters. As I began to explore the surrounding area of the park I realized that there were other much smaller springs in the park also. One day I followed the Green Springs Run north and realized that it created a small water from another sulfur spring called Cobb Seep. Who knew that there would be waterfalls near my house in Deltona?

Enterprise Spring

One day I followed the spring run all the way down to the road where it meets the St Johns River. Upon walking back to the park I passed another spring run flowing underneath the road. I had never realized it before even though I had driven right over it hundreds of times before. I followed it back into the woods, which was no easy task. The small spring run was intensely sulfuric because you could smell it from the road. As I pushed through the dense woods it opened up slightly near a small shell midden to a hidden spring! I was so excited to have found a new spring I didn’t know existed! This was the start for me to explore Florida’s hidden springs. Later I found out the small sulfur spring was called Enterprise Spring.

The more I would go back to Green Springs the more I would fall in love with the place. The emerald colors of the spring throughout the year change colors depending on the amount of flow, sulfur and sunlight at the springs. You never know what color the spring will be! Sometimes the water is jade, sometimes a milky blue and once it was crystal clear. Green Springs has a long history from native Indians living at and revering the springs as evidenced by the nearby shell middens. Early settlers to Florida used the St Johns River for shipping and transportation and Enterprise was a main hub along the river. Eventually the sulfur springs started to be used for health spas in which distant travelers would soak in to cure an array of ailments. Old Oak trees surround the springs and give it an Old Florida feel.

The most recent spot that I have located is a small sulfur spring seep off to the side of Enterprise Spring which flows into the run. It has a high concentration of sulfur which coats the the run and vegetation with intense shades of green and jade. Though it is small the sulfur spring is one of my favorite places at Green Springs. I took Rick Kilby back to it after he spoke on the history of Florida spring in Enterprise and he nicknamed it “Joe’s Spring” after me. This meet up with Rick Kilby and Travis Marques launched our group Spring Hunters. It was soon after this that I created the Facebook group and it took off from there.