DeLeon Springs State Park Walking Tour
Quick answer: DeLeon Springs State Park near DeLand, Florida is a spring with six millennia of human history. The park preserves the Spring Garden Plantation (1804), Florida's only water-powered sugar mill (now the Old Spanish Sugar Mill pancake restaurant, since 1961), and miles of swamp and hammock trails.
Tour details
- Address
- 601 Ponce DeLeon Blvd, DeLeon Springs FL 32130
- Distance
- Short trails · 1–3 mi
- Spring
- Boil, swim area, winter manatees
- Fee
- State-park entry fee
Location
Address: 601 Ponce DeLeon Blvd, De Leon Springs, FL 32130Hours: 8 a.m.–sundown daily
Get directions on Google Maps
Layers of history at DeLeon Springs
Pre-contact
The Mayaca occupied the region for thousands of years, building shell middens and ceremonial/burial mounds. European accounts begin with Pedro Menéndez, the founder of St. Augustine, in the mid-1500s [S55, S56].
Spring Garden Plantation (1804)
The Spanish returned in 1783 after regaining the land from Great Britain, granting land including the spring to William Williams in 1804, who established the first plantation — "Spring Garden" — growing corn, cotton, and sugar cane, worked by enslaved Africans [S55, S56].
The sugar mill
The Woodruffs owned the plantation from 1823 to 1830, then sold it to Colonel Orlando Rees, who built Florida's only water-powered sugar mill. The park includes 2,000 acres of former plantation land that grew cotton, sugarcane, and corn — processing the cane juice into sugar at the mill [S54, S55].
Civil War
Seminoles burned buildings in 1835; Zachary Taylor was sent to restore order. In 1864 Union troops dismantled the mill and burned crops to cut off supplies to the Confederacy [S55].
Modern mill
The current building was reconstructed in the early 1900s. In 1961, Peter and Marjorie Schwarze saved it from demolition and converted it into the Old Spanish Sugar Mill restaurant, where guests cook their own pancakes on griddles built into the tables [S55, S56, S57, S58].
The pancake house
The Old Spanish Sugar Mill is a destination in itself. Diners grind their own all-natural stone-ground flour into pancakes cooked on table griddles [S57, S58].
oldspanishsugarmill.comTrails to walk
Continental Drive Nature Trail
Short loop near the spring boil.
Wild Persimmon Trail
Longer loop through swamp and hammock.
Swimming / snorkel area
Spring boil pool; manatees sometimes visible in winter.
Frequently asked questions
- Where is DeLeon Springs State Park?
- 601 Ponce DeLeon Blvd, DeLeon Springs, Florida 32130 — about 6 miles north of DeLand.
- What is the Old Spanish Sugar Mill?
- Florida's only water-powered sugar mill. The surviving building was reconstructed in the early 1900s and converted to a pancake restaurant in 1961 by Peter and Marjorie Schwarze. [S55, S57]
- Can you swim in DeLeon Springs?
- Yes, swimming is allowed in the spring pool area. Manatees are sometimes visible in winter.
- When did DeLeon Springs become a state park?
- 1982, when Florida and Volusia County purchased the land. [S55]