Silver Springs Nature Theme Park
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Silver Springs Nature Theme Park is a theme park located in Silver Springs, Florida. The park is on land owned by the state of Florida as part of the Silver River State Park.
The property for the parks was bought by the state of Florida as part of Silver River State Park and management of the parks is then leased to a management company which is currently Palace Entertainment.
[edit] History
Tourists began visiting Silver Springs several years after the American Civil War. In the 1870s, the invention at Silver Springs of the "glass bottom boat" gave visitors a spectacular and unique view of the springs. Silver Springs gained national attention through journals and guidebooks, and became a mandatory stop on the "grand tour" of Florida. Former President Ulysses S. Grant visited the area in 1880. Other Presidents to visit the Springs included Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s.
Ocalans W. C. Ray and W. M. "Shorty" Davidson, owners of the land around the headwaters from the 1920s to 1962 were responsible for much of the development at Silver Springs. In the 1930s, Ross Allen's Florida Reptile Institute brought more notoriety to Silver Springs. Several movies and television shows were filmed at Silver Springs including Tarzan in the 1930's, which created a colony of spider monkeys that live near the river. The clarity of the water of the Silver River made it useful for filming underwater scenes for James Bond movies, and episodes of the Six Million Dollar Man.
The ownership of the theme park went through several private owners. During the 1980's, the distance of the them park from interstates made it increasing unprofitable. Faced with the possibility that the land would be developed as private real estate in the then booming Florida real estate market, the entire area around the Silver River was acquired by the state of Florida to become a state park. The state then leased the Silver Springs theme park back to a private manager, currently Palace Entertainment.
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