Ross Allen
was a genuine Florida character. Born in 1908 in Pittsburgh, Pa., Ross gravitated toward the wilds of nature, and where could you find nature in greater abundance than Florida’s Silver Springs?
As a boy he made Eagle Scout, and would later help the Boy Scouts set the standards for several wildlife merit badges. He was stand-in for Johnny Weismuller in the Tarzan movies shot at the springs, then went on to star in a few short films of his own that depicted him as a sort of latter day Tarzan — an image he was careful to cultivate.
Marjorie Kinnian Rawlings, in her account of a snake hunt with Ross in Cross Creek, paints him as an easy going, patient man, with a great love for the wilds and understanding of its creatures, especially snakes. Characteristically, he had invited her on the hunt in hopes that she would write about him.
He founded Ross Allen’s Reptile Institute at Silver Springs in 1929, displaying native snakes, alligators, and an “Indian Village” with Seminoles he recruited from the Everglades. After watching Ross handle the snakes and Indians wrestle gators, tourists could purchase their own souvenir live reptiles to take back home with them.
Hiawatha carrying passengers.
Hubbard Hart
During the 1830’s to the 1890’s, entrepreneurial men like Hubbard Hart operated Steamboats along the Ocklawaha capitalizing on the exotic lure of Florida. Tourists rode the winding river from the St. Johns to the Silver River experiencing the tropical beauty of central Florida. Wooden tourist boats with names like Ocklawaha, Fawn, General Sumter, Okeehumpkee, and Emma White meandered down the tight winding river to Ocala and Silver Springs.
Emma White was the woman who nursed one of the early boat captains, Captain Henry Gray, from an illness and fever in her Ocala home. A few years later, Gray named a new steamer after his friend Emma.
The steamboat era ended when the railroads cut through the area providing tourists with a faster means of transportation.
The first glass bottom boats started cruising Silver Springs when Hullam Jones put a glass bottom on his canoe. Others cashed in on the idea with Silver Springs Nature Park…. Eventually naming a number of their boats after the steamboats.
In 1860, at 33 years old, Hart bought the paddle-wheel steamer, James Burt. He used the boat to transport people and supplies between Palatka and Silver Springs. The tourist route lasted 2-days, and went down the Ocklawaha River from Palatka to Silver Springs and back. The roads at the time were very poor, but boat transport was faster and safer. James Burt was also used to move lumber from Hart’s new cypress lumbering enterprise. His new business, the Hart Line, needed to clear the wood and debris from the Ocklawaha.
Today’s Adventurists
Off Road
Paisley Trail
Salt Springs
Alexander Springs