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Lake George (Florida)

 

 
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Lake George (Florida)
 
 
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Lake George or Lake Welaka is a broad and shallow lake
Lake

A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
 on the St. Johns River
St. Johns River

The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida, stretching 310 miles from Indian River County, Florida to the Atlantic Ocean in Jacksonville, Florida in Duval County, Florida....
 in the U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 state of Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
. It is six miles (10 km) wide and eleven miles (18 km) long, with an average depth of 8 feet (2.5 m). The west side of the lake is encompassed in the Ocala National Forest
Ocala National Forest

The Ocala National Forest is the second largest National Forest in Florida and covers approximately in central Florida. It is located three miles east of Ocala, Florida, southeast of Gainesville, Florida....
. Three major spring groups flow into Lake George on the west side. Salt Springs enters the northwest side of the lake through the 4.3 mile (7 km) Salt Creek.






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Lake George or Lake Welaka is a broad and shallow lake
Lake

A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
 on the St. Johns River
St. Johns River

The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida, stretching 310 miles from Indian River County, Florida to the Atlantic Ocean in Jacksonville, Florida in Duval County, Florida....
 in the U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 state of Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
. It is six miles (10 km) wide and eleven miles (18 km) long, with an average depth of 8 feet (2.5 m). The west side of the lake is encompassed in the Ocala National Forest
Ocala National Forest

The Ocala National Forest is the second largest National Forest in Florida and covers approximately in central Florida. It is located three miles east of Ocala, Florida, southeast of Gainesville, Florida....
. Three major spring groups flow into Lake George on the west side. Salt Springs enters the northwest side of the lake through the 4.3 mile (7 km) Salt Creek. Silver Glen Springs enters the lake about midway down on the west side, and multiple springs comprise Juniper Creek that flows into Lake George on the southwest side, with Juniper Springs
Juniper Springs

Juniper Springs DescriptionThe springs, set in a semitropical woods, is in an oval-shaped pool with limestone caves present on the bottom along with areas of sand and Aquatic plant....
 at the headwater of the creek. The large island on the north side of the lake is Drayton Island
Drayton Island

Drayton Island is a privately owned heavily wooded island at the northern end of Lake George on the west side of the Saint Johns River's main channel in Putnam County, Florida, Florida, United States....
.

The St. Johns River flows out of the lake at the north end at Rocky Point. To the east of this is Salt Cove, taking the flow from Salt Creek. Just south of Salt Cove is Lisk Point, named for a Dr. Lisk who built a house near the point. Steamboats coming down from Jacksonville made a counter clockwise loop around the lake with their first stop at Lisk Point.

Lake George is the second largest lake in Florida, after Lake Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee, locally referred to as The Lake or The Big O is a freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the second-largest freshwater lake wholly within the continental United States, second only to Lake Michigan and the largest in the southern United States....
. Lake George was the third largest lake behind Lake Apopka
Lake Apopka

Lake Apopka is the fourth largest lake in Florida. It is located west of Orlando, Florida and mostly in Orange County, Florida, but the western part is in Lake County, Florida....
, but conversion of the littoral zone on the northern side of Lake Apopka to farm fields in the previous century reduced its surface area.

There is an operational U.S. Military bombing range called Pine Castle Bombing Range located in the Ocala National Forest just west of Lake George and a designated bombing range in the lake itself. The bombing ranges date back to WWII, when the Navy built bomb targets in Lake George and nearby Crescent Lake, and stationed personnel in the area to maintain the targets and perform search and rescue operations for downed pilots.

The lake also hosts a wide variety of wildlife ranging from migratory water birds and alligators to a number of normally marine animals. Local springs in Lake George (and throughout the St Johns River) impart enough salt to the system to make the habitat suitable to resident and migratory marine species like Atlantic stingray
Atlantic stingray

The Atlantic stingray, Dasyatis sabina, is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, common along the Atlantic coast of North America from Chesapeake Bay to Mexico and also found in brackish and freshwater habitats....
, various species of mullet
Mullet

Mullet may refer to:...
, striped bass
Striped bass

The striped bass is the List of U.S. state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state Saltwater fish of New York....
 and blue crabs. There is a large enough blue crab population to support a local fishery, making it one of the only fresh water blue crab fisheries in the world.

See also

  • Drayton Island
    Drayton Island

    Drayton Island is a privately owned heavily wooded island at the northern end of Lake George on the west side of the Saint Johns River's main channel in Putnam County, Florida, Florida, United States....


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