# Old Florida: Springs, Swamps & the Nature Coast

A 7-day, ~780-mile Southern road trip from Gainesville. It chains Cross Creek & the Springs, The Nature Coast, The Big Water and The Tamiami Trail.

- **Days:** 7
- **Distance:** ~780 mi
- **Starts in:** Gainesville
- **Themes:** Outdoors, Culture
- **Routes chained:** [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs), [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast), [The Big Water](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/big-water), [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)

The Florida the postcards forgot: crystal springs and manatees, a sponge-diving Greek town, a Cracker author's homestead, the great lake's muck towns and the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades to Calle Ocho.

## Why this itinerary works

Starting in Gainesville, this 7-day itinerary connects Cross Creek & the Springs and The Nature Coast and The Big Water and The Tamiami Trail. It suits travellers interested in parks, coast, mountains & water; art towns, writers & folkways. The day-by-day bases let you split roughly 780 miles into a sequence of visits rather than trying to cover every linked route end to end. Use the daily highlights to decide which places deserve your longest stops.

## Day by day

### Day 1: Cross Creek & the springs

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's homestead at Cross Creek, the wild-bison horizon of Paynes Prairie, and glass-clear Silver Springs by boat — overnight Ocala.

Highlights to consider:

- **Silver Springs** (Silver Springs) — Glass-bottom boats since the 1870s over one of the largest artesian springs on earth. Six Tarzan films and Sea Hunt shot here; the wild monkeys descend from a 1930s boat operator's stunt. [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs)
- **Rawlings Homestead** (Cross Creek) — The cracker farmhouse, grove and typewriter on the porch, kept exactly as she left it. The Yearling won the Pulitzer from this kitchen table; read Cross Creek before you come. [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs)
- **Micanopy** (Micanopy) — Florida's oldest inland settlement, a two-block canopy of oaks, bookshops and antiques. Doc Hollywood filmed here because it already looked like a memory. [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs)
- **Paynes Prairie Preserve** (Micanopy) — A vast sinkhole savanna where reintroduced bison and cracker horses roam free. The La Chua trail packs in more alligators per mile than anywhere outside the Everglades. [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs)

### Day 2: Ocala → Crystal River

Juniper Springs run in the Ocala forest, then west to Three Sisters Springs to swim with manatees and Homosassa's monkey island. Overnight on the Nature Coast.

Highlights to consider:

- **Juniper Springs Run** (Ocala National Forest) — A CCC-built millhouse on a turquoise spring and a seven-mile canoe run through subtropical wilderness. One of the oldest recreation areas in the national forest system. [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs)
- **Monkey Island** (Homosassa) — A tiny river island with its own lighthouse and a troop of spider monkeys, resident since the 1960s when a fed-up developer marooned the escape artists there. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)
- **Three Sisters Springs** (Crystal River) — The only place in America where you can legally swim with manatees. On cold January mornings hundreds pack the spring like gentle boulders. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)
- **Micanopy** (Micanopy) — Florida's oldest inland settlement, a two-block canopy of oaks, bookshops and antiques. Doc Hollywood filmed here because it already looked like a memory. [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs)
- **Paynes Prairie Preserve** (Micanopy) — A vast sinkhole savanna where reintroduced bison and cracker horses roam free. The La Chua trail packs in more alligators per mile than anywhere outside the Everglades. [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs)

### Day 3: Cedar Key & Steinhatchee

Up the lonely coast to old Cedar Key for clams and a Gulf sunset, with a Steinhatchee detour for the fishing-village calm. Overnight Cedar Key.

Highlights to consider:

- **Cedar Key** (Cedar Key) — Once Florida's biggest Gulf port and the cedar source for Eberhard Faber's pencils; the 1896 hurricane and the railroad's death left an island of clam farmers and artists. Florida's best time capsule. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)
- **Steinhatchee** (Steinhatchee) — A river-mouth fishing village that triples in summer scallop season, when anyone with a mask and a bag can snorkel up dinner. Roy's has fed the fleet for generations. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)

### Day 4: Weeki Wachee → Tarpon Springs

The live-mermaid show at Weeki Wachee, then Tarpon Springs' sponge docks and Greek bakeries — the long drive south begins. Overnight near Tampa.

Highlights to consider:

- **Weeki Wachee Springs** (Weeki Wachee) — Live mermaid shows in a submerged theater since 1947, performed 20 feet down in a first-magnitude spring. Elvis visited; the mermaids remain undefeated roadside royalty. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)
- **Monkey Island** (Homosassa) — A tiny river island with its own lighthouse and a troop of spider monkeys, resident since the 1960s when a fed-up developer marooned the escape artists there. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)
- **Three Sisters Springs** (Crystal River) — The only place in America where you can legally swim with manatees. On cold January mornings hundreds pack the spring like gentle boulders. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)
- **Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks** (Tarpon Springs) — Greek divers built the sponge capital of the world here after 1905, and the town still has the highest share of Greek Americans in the country. Sponge boats, Epiphany cross dives, and serious baklava. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)

### Day 5: → Lake Okeechobee

Across the peninsula to the Big Water: climb the Hoover Dike, the 1928 hurricane memorials, and a night at the old Clewiston Inn.

Highlights to consider:

- **Climb the Hoover Dike** (Canal Point) — The 143-mile dike carries a paved scenic trail on top; it is the only way to actually see the Big Water from the road that circles it. Any access ramp will do. [The Big Water](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/big-water)
- **Clewiston Inn** (Clewiston) — The 1938 colonial inn U.S. Sugar built for visiting brass, with a wraparound Everglades bird mural in the bar. Old Florida hospitality, cane trucks rumbling past. [The Big Water](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/big-water)
- **Weeki Wachee Springs** (Weeki Wachee) — Live mermaid shows in a submerged theater since 1947, performed 20 feet down in a first-magnitude spring. Elvis visited; the mermaids remain undefeated roadside royalty. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)
- **Monkey Island** (Homosassa) — A tiny river island with its own lighthouse and a troop of spider monkeys, resident since the 1960s when a fed-up developer marooned the escape artists there. [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast)
- **Port Mayaca Cemetery** (Port Mayaca) — A mass grave holding roughly 1,600 unnamed victims of the 1928 hurricane, moved here when the water receded. The state's deadliest disaster, nearly erased from memory for decades. [The Big Water](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/big-water)

### Day 6: → Everglades City

South to the Ten Thousand Islands: the historic Smallwood Store at Chokoloskee and stone crab at Everglades City. Overnight on the edge of the swamp.

Highlights to consider:

- **Smallwood Store** (Chokoloskee) — A 1906 trading post on stilts at the edge of the Ten Thousand Islands, where the crowd shot the outlaw Ed Watson in 1910. Matthiessen built Killing Mister Watson from this dock. [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)
- **Skunk Ape Research HQ** (Ochopee) — Dave Shealy's lifelong field station for Florida's swamp Bigfoot, attached to a campground and gift shop. The Glades' finest commitment to a bit, or possibly not a bit. [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)
- **Ochopee Post Office** (Ochopee) — The smallest post office in the United States, a former irrigation-pipe shed of about 60 square feet. Buy a stamp; the postmark does the bragging. [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)

### Day 7: The Tamiami Trail → Miami

The world's smallest post office at Ochopee, Clyde Butcher's black-and-white Everglades, the Shark Valley tower and a Miccosukee village — finish with a cortadito on Calle Ocho.

Highlights to consider:

- **Shark Valley Tower** (Everglades NP) — A 15-mile loop into the sawgrass by tram or bike, ending at a 65-foot spiral tower with the only 360-degree Everglades view there is. Gators use the path as furniture. [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)
- **Skunk Ape Research HQ** (Ochopee) — Dave Shealy's lifelong field station for Florida's swamp Bigfoot, attached to a campground and gift shop. The Glades' finest commitment to a bit, or possibly not a bit. [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)
- **Ochopee Post Office** (Ochopee) — The smallest post office in the United States, a former irrigation-pipe shed of about 60 square feet. Buy a stamp; the postmark does the bragging. [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)
- **Clyde Butcher's Big Cypress Gallery** (Ochopee) — Large-format black-and-white photography that did for the Everglades what Adams did for Yosemite. The gallery runs guided swamp walks behind the building. [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)
- **Miccosukee Indian Village** (Tamiami Trail) — The tribe that never surrendered, living along the Trail since long before it was paved: chickee craftsmanship, airboats, and a museum on their own terms. [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami)

## Practical planning

Budget an average of about 111 miles per day across the whole trip, or roughly 2.5–3.7 hours behind the wheel at an assumed 30–45 mph back-roads pace. This is a planning estimate, not a measured time for each leg: transfer days can be longer and rest days shorter. Add meal stops, tours, ferries, traffic and hikes separately; use each day's navigation link for current driving estimates.

### Overnight bases

- Day 1: Ocala
- Day 2: on the Nature Coast
- Day 3: Cedar Key
- Day 4: near Tampa
- Day 5: → Lake Okeechobee
- Day 6: on the edge of the swamp
- Day 7: The Tamiami Trail → Miami

### Best season & route notes

- [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs): The Rawlings house interior tours run seasonally and close in summer; the grounds stay open year-round.
- [Cross Creek & the Springs](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cross-creek-springs): Reserve the Juniper run canoe early; the livery sells out most winter and spring weekends.
- [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast): Manatee season is Nov 15 to Mar 31; book Crystal River swim tours for first light, before the springs crowd.
- [The Nature Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/nature-coast): Scallop season on the Big Bend runs roughly June to early September; check FWC dates by zone.
- [The Big Water](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/big-water): Cane-burning season (roughly Oct–Mar) drops ash and smoke on the east-side towns; keep the windows ready.
- [The Tamiami Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/tamiami): Dry season (Dec–Apr) stacks wildlife along the canals; summer is mosquitoes and afternoon whiteouts.

## Frequently asked questions
### How many days and miles is Old Florida: Springs, Swamps & the Nature Coast?

Old Florida: Springs, Swamps & the Nature Coast is a 7-day trip of about 780 miles.

### Where does Old Florida: Springs, Swamps & the Nature Coast start?

It starts in Gainesville.

### Which routes does Old Florida: Springs, Swamps & the Nature Coast chain together?

It chains Cross Creek & the Springs, The Nature Coast, The Big Water and The Tamiami Trail.

### Where are the overnight bases on Old Florida: Springs, Swamps & the Nature Coast?

Day 1: Ocala; Day 2: on the Nature Coast; Day 3: Cedar Key; Day 4: near Tampa; Day 5: → Lake Okeechobee; Day 6: on the edge of the swamp; Day 7: The Tamiami Trail → Miami.

## Related itineraries

- [Cracker Trail & the Big Water](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/cracker-florida) — 2 days, ~260 mi

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Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/old-florida-week  
Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/)  
Last updated: 2026-10-04