Falling Waters Sink holds the highest waterfall in Florida. A small spring-fed stream runs across the high ground south of Chipley and drops about 73 feet down the wall of a cylindrical sinkhole, then vanishes into the limestone at the bottom. Nobody knows exactly where the water goes once it enters the aquifer. In a dry season the stream can slow to a trickle and the falls nearly disappear. The sinkhole is roughly 20 feet across and about 100 feet deep, and it is only one of many in the park. The whole area is pocked with sinks where the limestone beneath the red clay hills has dissolved and the surface has collapsed into it, and a boardwalk runs past several of them on the way to the falls. People have tried to put the falling water to work. Around the time of the Civil War a gristmill used its power, and in 1919 a wildcat company drilled one of the first oil wells in Florida beside the sink, reaching nearly 5,000 feet without finding any oil. Falling Waters became a state park in 1962, and the park also holds a small lake with a swimming beach. It sits just south of Interstate 10 in Washington County, on some of the highest ground in the state: the park's campground stands on a hill about 324 feet above sea level.
Getting there
30.7281, -85.5286
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
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