Last updated on April 14th, 2025 at 09:01 pm
For six decades, make-them-yourself pancakes have been the most famous feature of De Leon Springs State Park, located about an hour north of Orlando.
The park’s Old Sugar Mill Restaurant is fun to visit and the pancakes are so popular you can wait two to three hours for a table on summer weekends. If you’ve visited years ago, I can assure you, it hasn’t changed.
But the pancakes were only one of the things we loved about visiting De Leon Springs. We spent the early morning hours hiking at adjacent Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge. (We saw an otter!)
We loved our wildlife-filled kayak trip on Spring Garden Run, the stream formed from the large outflow of water from De Leon springs. (We saw an eagle!)
We enjoyed seeing the historic signs and structures on the grounds.
And my husband even took a swim in the sparkling clear 72 degree water.
To our surprise, we spent the whole day here, between the wildlife refuge and the park.
Ponce De Leon Springs State Park pancakes
The Old Sugar Mill Pancake House ranks as historic by Florida standards: It was founded in 1961, but it is located in a 100-year-old replica of the 1830s sugar mill.
Its unique feature is that every table is built with a griddle in the middle. You are given easy-to-pour pitchers of pancake batter, some spray vegetable oil and a spatula, and you can make and eat as many pancakes as you like. There is the traditional batter and a flavor of the month. (We tried hazelnut; pretty good.)
I started as a skeptic: I make pancakes at home all the time and I don’t consider it a form of entertainment. But the charm of the Old Sugar Mill and the delicious results converted me.
The pancakes are $9 per person and you can have as many you’d like. For $3, you can add things to sprinkle into your pancakes – blueberries, banana slices, pecans, chocolate chips. Pancakes are served with real maple syrup.
Making the pancakes is not messy or difficult. You can add a side of eggs, bacon or sausage and the menu includes a selection of salads and sandwiches. Prices are reasonable, although you do have to pay $6 per carload to enter the park.
The restaurant is immediately adjacent to the swimming area and in summers, families come for the day to swim and have breakfast or lunch.
We came on a weekday and half the tables were open. But there were indications everywhere of the place’s popularity. When you stop at the park entrance booth, a sign shows how long the wait at the restaurant is. When you go to the boat dock, there’s a sign that says “Waiting on pancakes? Take the tour boat and you do not lose your place on the waiting list.” (It’s a one-hour nature tour down the Spring Garden River.)
Kayaking at Ponce De Leon Springs State Park
You can rent kayaks at the park, but we launched our own kayak from an excellent site adjacent to the head spring.
We immediately realized the “stone” we saw in the river was a stationary manatee relaxing close to the “warm” spring waters. There were several manatees in the vicinity as we launched and when we returned. While the spring is clear, in the stream it immediately takes on a tannic color and we never saw more than the backs of the manatees.
Kayaks can paddle about 4.5 miles on Spring Garden Run to Lake Woodruff. We did a shorter out-and-back and enjoyed spotting osprey, cormorants, anhingas and a limpkin. The American eagle that landed along the river’s edge as we paddled was undoubtedly our highlight.
We enjoyed the paddle, but if you can only do one kayak trip in the area, I’d recommend the area around Blue Spring and Hontoon Island state parks.
Narrated boat tour: If your group includes those who don’t paddle, consider the 50-minute narrated nature and history tour that leaves from the park several times a day. Adult tickets are $19. The tour tells the history and identifies wildlife aboard the open-air pontoon boat. For information, call 386-837-5537. Fountain of Youth eco/history boat tours
Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge: Adjacent to park and great for wildlife
We’d been to De Leon Springs before, but I hadn’t realized that a wonderful wildlife refuge surrounds it. If you are visiting De Leon Springs, visiting Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge is an excellent addition to your day.
The refuge was created to protect migratory birds and waterfowl and is one of the largest fresh water marshes in Florida. Impoundments were created to manage water levels that would be good habitat for birds. There are restrooms, parking, an observation tower and miles of trails along the impoundments. The trails are largely shadeless; best for winter days. There are also two short shady loops through shady hammocks.
We went first thing in the morning and were rewarded with views of a few wading birds, alligators and sandhill cranes, who were not shy, allowing us to stroll past without flying away. While I had my camera focused on the cranes, a river otter scampered with its humpy gait across the trail behind the cranes.
The cranes decided to say hello to friends across the way and we enjoyed their raucous calling, captured in the video below.
The charm and history of Ponce De Leon Springs State Park
The Old Sugar Mill restaurant truly is the site of an old sugar mill, and for me, that’s a big part of its charm. In fact, DeLeon Springs has many layers of history, playing notable roles in all the major events that affected Florida history.
The park actually played a part in Florida’s pre-history too. It has mounds built by early people and two ancient canoes have been found in the spring. The oldest was carbon dated to about 4,050 BC – among the oldest canoes found in America.
European settlers came in the 1820s to build a plantation that produced cotton, corn, rice and eventually sugar cane. This park has a visitor center that does a good job telling the story of this era, with attention to the labor that made it possible – about 250 slaves.
One powerful flyer in the museum describes the 1855 records of the plantation that list all the possessions – Peter, valued at $600, Anna ($800) along with Zack the mule ($125.) While it is shocking enough to see people listed along mahogany tables and mules, the museum includes the saddest item ever: “Blind Sarah: Worthless.”
The plantation figured in the Second Seminole War, during which one of its owners was killed by Seminoles and the plantation was burned, and in the Civil War, during which the rebuilt plantation was again sacked.
When tourists began flocking to Florida by railroad in the 1880s, what had been known as Spring Garden got a tourist-friendly name of Ponce De Leon Springs, suggesting Ponce De Leon’s fountain of youth.
Eventually, De Leon Springs became one of Florida’s great pre-Disney roadside attractions, with a hotel, ballroom, beautiful gardens, tram and boat rides. The Old Sugar Mill pancake house dates to this era. Another of the attraction’s memorable features was Sunshine Sally, a water skiing baby elephant!
By 1980, De Leon Springs was no longer viable as an attraction and its future seemed to be as a real estate development. Fortunately, the community rallied to save the property and it became a state park in 1982, in a pattern repeated with several other former attractions that are now parks, including Weeki Wachee, Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs in Ocala.
Hiking and swimming at De Leon Springs State Park
On a hot day, the 19 million gallons of 72-degree water welling up from an underwater cavern beckons to all. A concrete-rimmed pool was created in the 1920s. Snorkeling is permitted in the spring. Depths range from 18 inches to 30 feet at the spring boil and water visibility is near perfect. When we visited in the winter, there were a handful of swimmers.
Hiking: A half-mile paved nature trail, which is currently closed for rebuilding, passes through a hammock and leads to Old Methuselah, a huge bald cypress tree that is more than 500 years old. There is also a 4.2-mile Wild Persimmon loop trail in the park.
Planning your visit to Ponce De Leon Springs State Park:
601 Ponce Deleon Blvd, De Leon Springs, FL 32130
(386) 985-4212
Hours: 8 a.m. until sunset, 365 days a year
The park does not have camping.
- Ponce De Leon Springs State Park website
- Old Sugar Mill Pancake House
- Fountain of Youth eco/history boat tours
- Lake Woodfull National Wildlife Refuge
Recommended nearby stops:
From Florida Rambler: The River of Lakes Heritage Corridor includes De Leon Springs State Park. The heritage corridor offers springs, history and Florida scenic drives along the St. Johns, the ‘river of lakes.’
Blue Spring State Park: Manatees in winter; swimming in summer; beauty year-round
Cabins at Blue Spring and three other Central Florida parks
Wekiva River Basin inviting to paddlers, campers
Hontoon Island: Camping, cabins, great kayak trip in wild setting
Best places to see manatees in Florida
Updated 12/17
The best time make a pancake run is first thing in the morning, especially in the winter. The pancake house turns into a sauna because of all the table cooking and it’s not a pleasant experience.