Around the Banks: A refreshing memory of local springs

Published 8:00 am Friday, July 7, 2017

Cool, clear water.

Hot, humid, and potentially dangerous, I am not referring to any kind of monster here, although I have heard the weather this time of year referred to as “the bear.” Often times in a north Florida, not so long ago, in the middle of my annual “What I did on summer vacation” which could have been answered with three words, “Daddy’s Tobacco Patch,” you would hear folks say, be sure and drink plenty of water so the “bear” won’t catch you.

We talk about the heat a lot in our part of the world, and I do love some of the expressions we utilize when discussing it:

“It’s hotter than a two dollar pistol.”

“It’s so hot if you get a breath of air you’ll steal it.”

“It’s hotter than the hinges on the doors of hell.”

And, years, ago, one of my favorites that a friend, now deceased, who  had a keen sense of humor said to Daddy and me: “Wade and Johnny, I saw the devil this afternoon in White Springs, and he was chasing that ice truck headed for the convenience store.”

The late Mrs. W.A. “Lillian” Shipp, who was a civic and political leader and who never stopped lobbying for her part of the world, even when she was in her last days at the nursing home, once entertained a group of young people in her home and to cultivate conversation asked the question of us “What do you think is the greatest invention of mankind?”

We thought about our answers with care in front of such an august lady, and each of us proffered our answers, “Penicillin, the internal combustion engine, electricity.”

At the end she responded “All of those are wonderful answers, but I believe the greatest was Air Conditioning,” it made life in our part of the world so much more tolerable. I think she’s right. I think the advent of air conditioning did a much to open Florida for tourism as the weather or the interstate highway system.

My mind travels down memory lane to two places in our area that began the tourism craze in Florida: White Springs and Suwannee Springs, both are dear to the memories of many in our area, and, when I was a child, they were great places of recreation.

No matter how hot the weather, one could take a dip in the icy waters of either place and be immediately refreshed. Many stories of folks in Jasper, Florida, who rented cabins and spent whole summers out at Suwannee Springs. I have heard many stories of great times shared there.

Folks visited on screened porches, children swam, and everyone enjoyed the icy waters of the springs.

The same was true in White Springs except we had the Spring House that was owned by the late Mr. Claude Thompkins, during my childhood. Mr. Thompkins also owned the Colonial Hotel and was said to have made his fortune by patenting the “Thompkins Nail,” a nail designed to nail up naval stores tins with more accuracy. He patented this nail and sold the patent and manufactured the nail during a day and time when naval stores reigned supreme over much of the Deep South.

In those days, one entered the springs from the east side, walked down a number of steps in to the spring house gift shop which was presided over by the late Mrs. Claude “Estella” Stormant during my childhood. There, you paid the fee to swim. I think it was a quarter to swim when I was a child, but my paternal grandmother bought, as part of our Christmas presents each year, annual passes for the springhouse, so we presented the annual pass, and had unlimited access to the springs, all day long, any day we could go in.

These places were also the center of much social life and it was the place where much information was exchanged. In those days, folks actually wrote letters, sent cards, and visited face to face, and, as we lived in an area where agriculture reigned supreme, the time of leisure for most folks was treasured.

That cool spray you felt from the icy waters before ever plunging in was refreshing, invigorating, and anticipated with joy.

Well, gone are those days for most of us in this area, but the memories linger on of when that clear, cool water, really was not only life-giving but provided enjoyment, leisure, and, was said to me medicinal. Both of my grandmothers believed enough in the medicinal properties of the waters that no visit to either place was complete without filling a couple of gallon jugs of the “spring water” and taking it home to put in the fridge to drink. My paternal grandmother in White Springs kept a gallon in her fridge almost all the time.  

Whether the waters really did make folks feel better or not, the belief was there. My paternal grandmother said she had seen many people through the years, truly helped, by the waters in White Springs, and I know the Native Americans who lived in the area before the first white man came to the area believed enough in the strength of the waters, they declared the area around the springs, some six miles in circumference, sacred, and that is true. No fighting among tribes could take place there.

We live in such a beautiful area, and I am glad to have these memories of a north-Florida of not that long ago. Memories sustain us, lift us, and propel us, when we need a lift. We might not be able to sip the life-giving waters of Suwannee Springs or White Springs any more, but we can be lifted by the memories of them in our home “Around the Banks of the Suwannee”.

From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs. Wishing you a day filled with joy, peace, and, above all, lots of love and laughter.