The tannic acid water of the Suwannee River rushes into the spring house at White Sulpher Spring in the town of White Springs on Saturday, March 17, 2012.

In the 1800s, the sulphur spring was promoted as a cure for just about any ailment and visitors came to swim in the healing waters. After a log hotel was built beside the spring it became a popular health resort and one of Florida’s first tourist destinations. In the late 1800s, 14 luxury hotels, as well as other boarding houses in the area, accommodated the visitors who arrived by special excursion train.

Records show that in 1906, the spring was enclosed with gates and a high coquina and concrete wall to keep the river out. A four-tiered building on either side of the spring contained shops, dressing rooms, and clinical examination rooms. Among the resort’s famous visitors up until the 1950s were Henry Ford and Teddy Roosevelt. The spring has been dry for the most part, however, since the 80s.