Breakfast. Just hearing the word conjures up images and aromas for me of coffee perking, turkey bacon on the grill, eggs scrambling, pancakes sizzling. You can tell I love breakfast any time of day. Apparently I am not alone in my admiration.
At The Old Spanish Sugar Mill grill and griddle house located inside DeLeon Springs State Park, breakfast is served all day until 4 p.m. Who needs lunch? Well, they have sandwiches and salads too but breakfast is the most popular item on the menu.
Here’s why: Every wooden dining table has an electric griddle embedded in the middle. You can make breakfast right at your table. And people of all ages come from north, south, east and west to do just that. Pancake batter is brought in big pitchers to your table. You pick from five different flours, all stone ground on the premises with their French buhr millstones. Pancake breakfast is $4.50 per person, sides are extra.
Pour and flip. Add blueberries, peanut butter, pecans, chocolate chips or apples. Cook sausage, bacon, ham and eggs on the side. Order homemade breads. Did I mention bring an appetite? Good idea. Plus dial yourself in leisure mode. Gear down. Turn off the cell phone. Put the watch away. No need to hurry. Linger. Cook one more pancake. Have an extra cup of coffee. Enjoy this unusual experience.
You look out the restaurant windows and see a lovely natural landscape – DeLeon Springs. Flowing spring water was the power source for the sugar mill built back in the 1800s. After breakfast, make this your next destination.
DeLeon Springs is without question a beautiful place and always has been. Native Americans agreed. They started coming here at least 6000 years ago and lived at the springs and the spring run area. Two dugout canoes found in the spring area date back to 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, making them two of the oldest canoes ever found in America.
In 1821 the United States acquired Florida. This area was called Spring Garden. Col. Orlando Rees bought the spring property in 1831 then planted sugar cane and built a mill to make sugar. Just four years later the Seminoles destroyed the mill and plantation.
Thomas Starke bought the plantation and built a second mill in the 1840s. He converted the mill to grind corn. Along came the Civil War and the Starke plantation produced food for Confederate troops. Northern forces seized the area in 1864 and demolished the mill.
By the late 1880s the area hosted recreation, becoming a resort area, and farming became a thing of the past. In the 1920s the spring was damned to become a power source.
Once again the mill was rebuilt, this time as a tourist destination. Even with all the changes, the bricks and kettle are original to the mill built in the 1840s. Peter and Marjorie Schwarze opened a restaurant inside the mill in 1961 and the pancake tradition began. Generations of families have come to make the Sugar Mill a family affair.
Last to arrive in the history of things was the state of Florida. The state purchased the property in 1982 and it became DeLeon Springs State Park. There is an admission fee of $5 per vehicle up to eight people.
Canoe, paddleboats and kayaks are all available for rental. Or just bring your bathing suit and try the waters. In the 1880s winter resort tourists were told the water was a fountain of youth sprinkled with soda and sulphur. That claim came from the local folklore that says Juan Ponce de Leon found the Fountain of Youth here. But then, several other places in Florida make the same claim. De Leon definitely got around. Swimmers are advised: Spring temperature is 72 degrees all year.
A water tour called Fountain of Youth ECO/History Tour is giving aboard the M/V Acuera. There are two choices, a 45-minute tour ($10 all tickets) or a 1 ½ hour tour (children $9, adults $14, seniors $12), both leave daily from DeLeon Springs State Park and go through the Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge downstream.
To work off all those pancakes, consider walking the five-mile Persimmon Trail that goes through oak hammocks, a flood plain forest and old farming lands. Or just take a short walk uphill from the restaurant to the sweet Butterfly Garden where winged masterpieces flit among a large variety of plants and vines.
By now you’ve realized that coming here is an event for body and spirit. You’ll be joining a long history of delighted guests, including Ponce de Leon. If he were still around, he’d come back for the pancakes.
This article first appeared in the January 2008 Observer. Lucy Beebe Tobias is a freelance writer and photographer in Ocala, Florida. She is the Authentic Florida expert for www.visitflorida.com. University Press of Florida has published her book 50 Great Walks in Florida. The book price is $24.95 plus shipping and tax where applicable. To order a book, contact Lucy at: [email protected]
TO KNOW MORE
• DeLeon Springs State State Park, 601 Ponce DeLeon Blvd., DeLeon Springs, Fl. 32130, phone (386) 985-4512. Web: www.floridastateparks.org
• Old Spanish Sugar Mill (inside state park), phone (386) 985-5644. Hours: Monday through Friday, 9-4; Saturday, Sunday and holidays, 8-4. Web: www.planetdeland.com/sugarmill
• Fountain of Youth ECO/History Tours (inside state park), phone (386) 837-5537. Web: www.foytours.com