Panacea, FL

Panacea is an unincorporated Wakulla County community on Florida's Gulf coast, where the 2020 census counted 735 residents. It sits in the Tallahassee metropolitan area among the coastal wetlands and springs that gave the place its name. Until 1893 the community was called Smith Springs; Bostonians who bought land around five springs renamed it Panacea, after the idea of a universal remedy.

ATTRThe Bushranger / CC BY-SA 4.0

The springs made Panacea a health resort, with a hotel that burned in the 1920s; Civil War salt works and later fishing and oyster work added other layers to the waterfront economy. Wild oyster harvest has since given way in part to local oyster farming along the coast. The Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, founded in 1963, now gives the community a scientific and educational presence, with a marine lab, public aquarium, and nature center focused on Gulf organisms. The community also has Wakulla County's only airport. Panacea's map joins springs, marsh, working water, research, and the long road to Tallahassee.