WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. (June 21, 2020) -- The Spanish called it Laguna del Espíritu Santo ("Lake of the Holy Spirit"). For the Seminoles it was Pa-hay-okee, meaning "Grassy Water”. Penned the River of Grass by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, today we know it as the Florida Everglades, and it is closer than you might think.
The area known as the Everglades originally extended from Lake Okeechobee south to the tip of peninsular Florida and covered nearly 4,000 square miles. Born from the sea, the Everglades is best described as a tapestry of land and water, where tree islands, wet prairies, hammocks, and Cypress swamps come together to form a mosaic of communities that many have called the Amazon of North America.
For Florida’s first inhabitants and Spanish explorers, the Everglades was an unforgiving, dark and foreboding place. Even the most courageous of explorers faced a beautiful, yet harsh landscape, full of hidden dangers, dark water, sweltering heat, mosquitoes, and alligators.
Untouched and virtually unexplored, the Everglades remained unspoiled for 5000 years. At the turn of the 20th century, the once impenetrable wilderness was slowly drained and tamed to make way for roads, homes and industry of modern-day Florida.
Although only 1.5 million acres of the Everglades remain, the 14,500 acres of Grassy Waters Preserve of West Palm Beach represents one of the last pieces of the northern Florida Everglades that survive today. As humble stewards of these ancient wetlands, the City of West Palm Beach is proving that we can coexist with nature by drawing from the rain-fed system for drinking water while also serving as a protector of its bounty and legacy for future generations.
Grassy Waters Preserve is located at 8264 Northlake Blvd. in the City of West Palm Beach. Grassy Waters serves as the drinking water supply source for the City of West Palm Beach, which provides water to the Town of Palm Beach and the Town of South Palm Beach. For more information on Grassy Waters Preserve public programs available under the COVID-19 safety guidelines, call (561) 804-4895 (TTY: 800-955-8771) or visit: https://www.wpb.org/government/public-utilities/grassy-waters-preserve/public-program-calendar .
