Crossing the Suwannee
The Dark River That Every Pioneer Family Bound for Florida Had to Cross
A ferry was a flat-bottomed scow operated for a fee; a traveler waited, loaded, crossed and unloaded.
Travelers heading overland from Georgia into the Florida Panhandle and Middle Florida eventually arrived at the same obstacle. The Suwannee River rises in the Okefenokee Swamp region of south Georgia and flows through North Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Geological Survey describes the river proper as about 235 miles long, 207 of them in Florida. It is not the widest river in the South, but for a traveler with a wagon and team it was a barrier that in most places had to be crossed by boat.
The Dark River
The upper Suwannee is a blackwater river. Its color comes from dissolved organic material drained from the swamp, which is natural and not pollution, and it lessens downstream as spring flow joins it (USGS). The Florida Department of State notes that the river separates the Panhandle from the rest of the peninsula. Not every route into Florida crossed it, but a traveler heading into the interior from the north or west could expect to meet it. The records located for this article document ferries on the river, not fords.
Ferries on the Suwannee
Surveyors of the first American road across North Florida treated the crossing as a ferry site. Correspondence of 1824 to 1826 printed by Mark F. Boyd in the Florida Historical Quarterly includes an advertisement stating that it was contemplated to establish a ferry, with a flat 45 feet long and 11 feet wide (read through an excerpt only). On February 15, 1834, the Territorial Legislative Council authorized William Brinton Hooker to establish a ferry across the Suwannee in Hamilton County. A petition of about 1842 asked that Samuel Russell be allowed to run another. The catalog entries do not show how the petition was decided.
The Florida Park Service says a ferry was built near the spring at White Springs, then called Jackson Springs, and that Bryant Sheffield bought the ferry and spring in 1836. Later photographs in the State Archives show a ferry on the river about 1900 and Irvine’s Ferry, a cable ferry at Luraville, which the catalog says Washington Irvine established around 1872 and which was photographed about 1882. A 1954 photograph shows an automobile on a cable ferry at Rock Bluff Landing.
White Springs
White Springs sits on the Suwannee in Hamilton County. The Florida Park Service says the sulfur spring has been used for healing for about 2,000 years and that the river marked the border between Timucuan and Apalachee territories. Descendants of Florida’s Native nations, including the Seminole and Miccosukee, live in the state today. Visitors later came by stagecoach, rail and automobile, and the town was incorporated in 1882. Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park now stands there.
The Crossing and the Song
No diary, letter or travel account of a Suwannee crossing was located, so the first-person experience of pioneer families is not documented here. The ferry record is modest: a traveler waited for the ferryman, loaded, crossed and unloaded.
Stephen Foster wrote “Old Folks at Home” in 1851. The Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh states that Foster never saw the Suwannee and never visited Florida; the river was chosen from an atlas to suit the meter. The song was sold to E. P. Christy, whose minstrel shows caricatured Black Americans, which is part of its history. The Florida Legislature designated “Swanee River” the state song in 1935.
Quick Facts
Length
About 235 miles for the river proper, 207 in Florida; about 280 including Big Alligator Creek (USGS)
Origin
Okefenokee Swamp region of south Georgia
Character
Blackwater river colored by dissolved organic material (USGS)
Hooker ferry
Act of the Territorial Legislative Council, February 15, 1834, Hamilton County
White Springs ferry
Sheffield bought ferry and spring in 1836 (Florida Park Service)
Samuel Russell petition
About 1842; outcome not shown
Irvine’s Ferry
Cable ferry at Luraville; established about 1872, photographed about 1882
Foster and the river
Wrote “Old Folks at Home” in 1851; never visited Florida
State song
“Swanee River” designated in 1935
Did You Know?
* The Suwannee’s dark color comes from dissolved organic material drained from the Okefenokee Swamp.
* Stephen Foster chose the river’s name from an atlas and never visited Florida.
* A cable ferry was still photographed on the Suwannee in 1954.
Vocabulary
Blackwater river: a river stained dark by dissolved plant material.
Cable ferry: a ferry guided across a river by a rope or cable strung between the banks.
Territorial Legislative Council: the law-making body of Florida while it was a U.S. territory.
Discussion Questions
1. Why did road builders treat the Suwannee crossing as a ferry site?
2. What is the difference between a river as a working crossing and a river as a symbol?
Related Articles
* FLH-0111 — Florida’s Forgotten Ferry Crossings
* FLH-0110 — Wagon Travel
* FLH-0109 — Military Roads
* FLH-0112 — River Travel
Sources
State Archives of Florida. Act authorizing William Brinton Hooker’s ferry, February 15, 1834, item 346965; Samuel Russell petition, item 348159; Irvine’s Ferry, item 26824; Rock Bluff Landing, item 33537 (catalog records; images and text not examined)
Boyd, Mark F. “The First American Road in Florida … Part II.” Florida Historical Quarterly 14, no. 3 (1935) (read through a fetched excerpt only)
U.S. Geological Survey. Suwannee River basin general-interest publication 7000048. pubs.usgs.gov
Florida State Parks. “The Spring House at Stephen Foster” and “History of Big Shoals.” floridastateparks.org
Center for American Music, University of Pittsburgh. “The Old Folks at Home.” sites.pitt.edu; Florida Department of State, “State Song.” dos.fl.gov
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