De Leon Springs, FL

DeLeon Springs is a Volusia County CDP centered on a powerful spring north of DeLand. The spring feeds the local landscape with clear water, shade, wetlands, and a long stream of visitors, while the community's roads, churches, farms, horse facilities, and homes spread around DeLeon Springs State Park. The area sits where old Spring Garden roads meet the U.S. 17 corridor.

The Mayaca used the spring for thousands of years, and later settlers built Spring Garden Plantation around cotton, sugarcane, and corn. In the 1880s locals adopted the Ponce de Leon name to draw tourists, and the spring became a winter resort after steamboats and railroads arrived. The 1925 Casino, the old attraction, and the 1982 state purchase all left marks on the community. Today the state park offers swimming, paddling, trails, birding, and the Old Spanish Sugar Mill restaurant, while Spring Garden Ranch brings a horse-training tradition. DeLeon Springs carries a lot of Florida history in one spring-fed neighborhood.