Florida's second-largest lake, ringed by national forest.
Lake George is Florida's second-largest lake, 72 square miles where the St. Johns River widens between Volusia and Putnam counties — ringed by the Ocala National Forest, named for King George III by naturalist John Bartram in 1765, with Silver Glen Springs pouring 65 million gallons of clear water into it daily.
Lake George sits where the St. Johns River widens into Florida's second-largest lake, 72 square miles ringed by the Ocala National Forest and Lake George State Forest. Naturalist John Bartram named it for King George III on an exploring trip up the St. Johns in 1765; shell mounds around the shore mark thousands of years of earlier indigenous habitation. Astor, at the lake's south end where the river narrows again, is the developed anchor: Drifters Riverfront Bar & Grill and Castaways Restaurant cover the dining, and Astor Bridge Marina handles boating. Georgetown Marina, Lodge & RV Park covers the west shore. Silver Glen Springs Recreation Area, also on the west shore, is the lake's signature stop — a first-magnitude spring releasing 65 million gallons of clear, constant 72-degree water a day, with swimming, snorkeling, and a short trail past ancient shell mounds. DeLand, about forty minutes south, covers the grocery run and the hospital, since nothing that size sits directly on the lake.
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