Tucked into a deep limestone ravine, right off of old Highway 46A in Seminole State Forest near Mt. Plymouth, is Droty Spring. Sublime. . .and completely forgotten.

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It took me a while to find this spring even with reasonably good directions and maps. It appears that the place wishes to remain forgotten. There is a lot of construction in this area as the Wekiva Parkway Superhighway continues to carve its way through the forest and 46A is now partly cutoff. But Droty Spring is still accessible with a bit of searching and a steep hike down an overgrown ravine.

I can make it easier for you now that I've found the spring. Droty is located at Latitude 28.8281 N., Longitude 81.5104 W.

The way I finally found this spring was looking for this grove of banana trees and smelling for sulphur. I had seen the banana trees in old photos when I was researching Droty. The spring is located in a rather arid sandhill flatwoods to oak hammock transition ecosystem so one doesn't expect to encounter a grove of heavily water dependant banana trees. Also, the spring emits a very strong sulphur odor.

The site is completely overgrown and indistinguishable from forest all around it. My truck sits along old Lake County CR 46A in the image above as seen from the top of the cliff leading down to Droty Spring.

DIRECTIONS

Driving west out of Sanford on SR 46, when you cross the Wekiva River it is about 2.5 miles to the new intersection of SR 46 and CR 46A. There is a traffic light here. Turn onto CR 46A. From that new intersection drive 2.7 miles until you see the farm gate with the number 27020 on the south side of CR 46A (below).

Directly across the street from 27020 is an unmarked, overgrown, locked gate that leads to Droty Spring.

GET A PERMIT

This is a disconnected parcel of the Seminole State Forest. One that is rarely visited. The land around the spring to the east, west and north is part of a vast 5000+ acre privately-owned land parcel often referred to as "Seminole Woods."

Note that I obtained a permit to take photographs in Seminole State Forest so I felt completely at ease jumping this locked gate. The forest is semi-open to the public. You need a permit to use the forest so obtain one of those first, then. . .

To get to the spring you have to scale the locked gate then head into the forest bearing left. There's an old trail to the right that leads down to the spring run but it is really rough going. The trail to the left, which doesn't appear to have been used in years, leads down the steep ravine more directly to Droty Spring's multiple vents.

From gate to spring is probably less than 200 feet. When you see the tops of the banana trees, head in that direction. Note that you will be going down a heavily ferned, steep hill with lots of limestone outcroppings. Tread carefully. The ferns and grasses are waist high. When you reach the bottom of the hill you come to the main spring pool which has at least 7 vigorous vents. Looking uphill you see other less robust vents discharging down the sloped face of the limestone cliff.

Here around the spring vents it is very humid and warm, a completely different atmosphere than that on the forest floor above.

Based on my observations this November day, when it hasn't rained in months and spring flow would be expected to be reduced, I would guess that Droty Spring is a 3rd magnitude spring, discharging 1-10 ft³/s of warm (70°+), clear, sulphur-laden water.

In the spring run sulphur-reducing bacteria turn leaf and tree debris light blue-white with their trailing mat colonies. The run itself is barely passable due to multiple downed trees, vines, other debris. As with all the springs in Seminole State Forest it is best to explore with knee boots as you never know when you're going to step in quicksand like muck near the spring or spring run.

On the property appraisers map below I've marked the exact location of Droty Spring. Parcel 1679320, just north of the spring, is part of the vast Teresa Rodriguez Partnership land tract (aka "Seminole Woods"). Its worth noting that the Teresa Rodriguez property does not appear to have been visited in years either in this area. There is a sand road that leads down to a little pool in the Droty Spring Run about 500 feet downstream from the main spring vents. That road disappears into the Teresa Rodriguez property.

As the new Wekiva Parkway Expressway nears completion in this area (2022 completion date) all of this land will be vulnerable to development.
Also, according to the Wekiva Parkway map (below), this section of CR 46A is slated to be removed as the expressway nears completion. There is no indication what the road might be replaced with, if anything. Its removal might further limit access to this site.
Click on the map below for a larger view.
The Teresa Rodriguez property is labeled "Seminole Woods" and Droty Spring is in the vicinity of the 46A symbol just below Seminole Woods (top center).

One last look at the main spring vents as I prepare to climb the hill.

I couldn't help thinking that based on the vigorous flow of this spring, what a nice pool it would make if a little dam were erected downstream, and a real trail was blazed, removing some of the obscuring vegetation. Then others could enjoy its peaceful beauty. That doesn't seem to be the plan for Droty based on the development plans I've seen. With the expressway being constructed less than a mile south of here, this area will likely end up bulldozed for housing development, like so much of Florida.

As the early winter sun dips below the tree tops I'm half way up the hill, looking back toward the spring, there is no indication there is anything here, except more nearly-impassable jungle. The banana trees are a clue to the springs past and a good indicator that its still flowing. Banana trees are not native to Florida. Someone had to plant them there.

I came back up a slightly different route and ended up directly in front of my truck. One last push through the tall broom grass and I was out. Until next time.
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