Suwannee River
The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a major river of southern Georgia and northern Florida in the United States. It is a wild river, about 266 miles long.
The river rises in the Okefenokee Swamp, emerging at Fargo, Georgia. The river then runs southwest into Florida, dropping in elevation through limestone layers resulting in Florida's only whitewater rapids.
It then turns west near White Springs, Florida, receiving the waters of the Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers, which together drain much of south-central Georgia. It then bends south near Ellaville, then southeast near Luraville, receives the Santa Fe River from the east just below Branford, then south again to the Gulf of Mexico near the town of Suwannee.
At the time of the Spanish exploration of the area in the 1530s, the river banks were inhabited by the Tumucuan people , who named it Suwani, "Echo River". In the 18th century, Seminoles lived by the river. The steamboat Madison operated on the river before the Civil War, and the sulphur springs at White Springs became popular as a health resort, with 14 hotels in operation in the late 1800s.
This river is the subject of the Stephen Foster song "Old Folks at Home" (who is reputed to have the chosen the name for its sound, never having visited it in person).
See also
