The Legend of Florida's "Rip Van Winkle"

You probably have heard or read Washington Irving's famous story of Rip Van Winkle, the old settler of the Hudson River Valley in New York who had an infamous encounter with the "little people," drank some of their liquor, and promptly went to sleep for decades.

You may not have heard, however, that a similar story is one of the legends surrounding Jackson County's Florida Caverns State Park. Local folklore holds that a group of picnickers were exploring one of the caves at the park during the 19th century when they unexpectedly came across an old man who claimed to have been sleeping in the cave for 100 years.

This story is one of the ones I've included in my new website on Florida Caverns. You can read it and learn much more about the history of the park by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com. Just follow the link and you will see the heading on the main page.