The Suwannee River
(Information and photo courtesy of  FLORIDA STATE PARKS)

The Suwannee River is a federally designated wild river. It is the only major waterway in the southeastern United States that is still unspoiled. The Suwannee flows from the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. It winds for almost 266 miles through swamps, high limestone banks, hammocks of hardwood, and salt marshes. It also has fifty-five springs along the way. The river’s limestone outcroppings and a drop in elevation create Florida’s only whitewater rapids at Little Shoals and Big Shoals located several miles upstream from the city of White Springs.

The river hums with echoes of history –of the booming days of plantations and logging empires, of the high times of paddle-wheel boats steaming up and down the river, of the long disorientation after the Civil War, and of the quiet persistence of the strong pioneers who lived off this land and profited from the rivers.

Just outside of Chiefland and just off C. R. 320 is one of the public boat ramps to the Suwannee River.
Summer and Weekends are filled with boaters, skiers, and fisherman.

Way down upon the Swanee River,
Far, far away,
There's where my heart is turning ever,
There's where the old folks stay.
All up and down the whole creation,
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for the old plantation,
And for the old folks at home.

Chorus
All the world is sad and dreary
Everywhere I roam.
O brothers, how my heart grows weary,
Far from the old folks at home.

2nd verse
All around the little farm I wandered,
When I was young;
Then many happy days I squandered,
Many the songs I sung.
When I was playing with my brother,
Happy was I.
Oh, take me to my kind old mother,
There let me live and die.

3rd verse
One little hut among the bushes,
One that I love.
Still sadly to my memory rushes,
No matter where I rove.
When will I see the bees a humming,
All around the comb?
When shall I hear the banjo strumming,
Down in my good old home.