Wakulla River

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wakulla River is a ten-mile long river in Wakulla County, Florida. It carries the outflow from Wakulla Springs, site of the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, to the St. Marks River.

The river, due to its clear, clean water, was once used to film underwater scenes during north florida's cinema boom. Movies fimed in Wakulla Springs and River include several Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller and Creature from the Black Lagoon.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Etymology

The name Wakulla is corrupted from Guacara. Guacara is a Spanish phonetic spelling of an original Indian name, and Wakulla is a Muskhogean pronounciation of Guacara. The Spanish Gua is the equivalent of the Creek wa, and as the Creek alphabet does not exhibit an "R" sound, the second element cara would have been pronounced kala by the Creeks. The Creek voiceless "L" is always substituted for the Spanish "R". Thus the word Guacara was pronounced Wakala by the Seminoles who are Muskhogean in their origin and language.

Since Wakulla was probably a Timucuan word, it is unlikely that its meaning will ever be known. It may contain the word kala which signified a "spring of water" in some Indian dialects.^[1]

[edit] List of crossings

Bridge	Route	Location	Coordinates
Upper Bridge	Wakulla CR 365	Wakulla Station
Lower Bridge	US 98	St. Marks

[edit] References

• Marth, Del and Marty Marth, eds. The Rivers of Florida. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. ISBN 0-910923-70-1. P. 96.

1. ^ Simpson, J. Clarence (1956). in Mark F. Boyd: Florida Place-Names of Indian Derivation. Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Geological Survey.