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GEOLOGICAL ODDITIES IN FLORIDA

Florida is a slab of porous limestone with water moving through it, and most of what the state has instead of scenery follows from that one fact. Slightly acidic rain dissolves the rock; what is left behind is either a hole or a spring, and sometimes both.

So this list is mostly holes and springs. A sink 500 feet across, measurably cooler at the bottom than at the rim. A collapsed cavern that people now dive in. Water coming out of the ground at a fixed temperature, whatever the season is doing above it.

Two entries qualify only by argument. Britton Hill is the lowest state high point in the United States. Spook Hill is an optical illusion with an official state marker. They are here because the register is about what a place does to you, not what a geologist would file it under. Only two of the seven are free; the rest charge a few dollars, usually per vehicle.

7
ENTRIES
2
FREE TO VISIT
7/10
MEDIAN STRANGENESS
7
COUNTIES
Venetian Pool
Venetian Pool
A public swimming pool carved out of a coral rock quarry in 1924, filled from an aquifer and drained every night in summer.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY
Coral Gables · Miami-Dade
$21 non-resident
8WEIRD
Warm Mineral Springs
Warm Mineral Springs
An 87-degree sinkhole spring pushing out nine million gallons a day, with 10,000-year-old human remains at the bottom.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY · UNDERWATER
North Port · Sarasota
$20
8WEIRD
Devil's Den
Devil's Den
A prehistoric spring inside a dry cave, entered by a staircase down a hole in a field.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY · UNDERWATER
Williston · Levy
$20 snorkel, $38 dive
7WEIRD
Spook Hill
Spook Hill
Stop at the white line, shift to neutral, and the car rolls backwards up the slope.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY
Lake Wales · Polk
Free
7WEIRD
Britton Hill
Britton Hill
The highest point in Florida, at 345 feet. It is lower than the highest point of every other state, and there is a picnic table.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY
Lakewood · Walton
Free
6WEIRD
Florida Caverns
Florida Caverns
The only Florida state park offering tours of dry, air-filled caves, hand-dug open by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY
Marianna · Jackson
$5 per vehicle, $12 cave tour
6WEIRD
The Devil's Millhopper
The Devil's Millhopper
A 120-foot limestone sinkhole with its own climate and the bones of extinct animals in the walls.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY
Gainesville · Alachua
$4 per vehicle
6WEIRD