BIG CYPRESS SWAMP

Once occupied by the Caloosa Indians and the Spanish, it was the last refuge of the Seminoles. The region is drained in a north- south direction by creeks, rivers, sloughs and swamps. Abounding in wildlife, trees, plants, shrubs and flowers, most of the area is less than fifteen feet in elevation; but fertile hammock forests dot the higher lands. The ever-present cypress is called the "wood eternal" and is the oldest living thing on earth.