Perhaps the "fountain of youth," always associated with the name Ponce de Leon, is one of the numerous springs found in this 426-acre park in Holmes and Walton counties...
Known for its longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystem, which, in combination with the Conecuh National Forest to the north and Eglin Air Force Base to the south, is the largest contiguous ecological community of this type in the world...
An early image of the Old Spanish Trail. Visitors can still see the same small town charms and breathtaking recreational sites past generations have experienced since the 1920's.
In the 1920s, an ambitious transcontinental road project linked St. Augustine and San Diego. Called the Old Spanish Trail, Route 90 provided Jazz Age motorists easy access to the gracious towns strung along the interior of northwest Florida and beyond.
Contemporary travelers tracing this historic tourist road can still experience those same small town charms and breathtaking recreational sites.
Contemporary travelers tracing this historic tourist road can still experience those same small town charms and breathtaking recreational sites. In Milton, a immaculately preserved riverfront town, visitors can explore seven miles of that original brick-paved Old Spanish Trail. Nearby, the vast Blackwater River State Forest has been dubbed the "Canoe Capital of Florida."
Other Route 90 highlights include taking a dip in the cool, clear Fountain of Youth waters at Ponce de Leon Springs State Park, hiking past a butterfly garden to Florida's highest waterfalls at Falling Waters State Park and viewing the limestone formations at Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna.
The restored downtowns of Crestview, Chipley, DeFuniak Springs and Marianna all brim with antique shops, frilly Victorian homes and inviting cafes, the latter offering everything from oyster bars to soul food.
Anyone with an inner cowboy (or cowgirl) can get a taste of the Old West at the rustic western boutiques in Bonifay, which hosts the annual Northwest Florida Championship Rodeo.
It's deep, it's blue, and it's full of large game fish that can turn the shape of a rod into a pretzel. Here lurk awesome battlers such as blue marlin, wahoo, sailfish, dolphin, kingfish, swordfish, yellowfin and blackfin tuna, and sharks longer than the width of some boats.
Join avid anglers on the Okaloosa Island Fishing Pier that extends a quarter-mile into the Gulf. Typical catches include mackerel, snapper, tuna, flounder, pompano and bluefish.
