"El Lago del Espiritu Santo"

There is no other area in the world like our Florida Everglades. The type of wildlife that it inhabits, the openness of land is quite exquisite and only available there. That is why the Spanish called it the 'El Lago del Espiritu Santo' meaning the lake of the Holy Spirit.  Truly the Everglades means 'big water'.

The origin of the name Everglades came from "River Glades" River became 'Ever' and after the acquisition of Florida from Spain in 1819 by the U.S. was it's present name used.The Indians though called it the 'Pa-hay-okee' which means "Grassy Water." The Everglades today is referred to as a plural entity and one word.

The Everglades encompasses shallow lands with shrubby trees in masses of water. The trees are called saw grass. In the Everglades is the greatest concentration of saw grass in the world. With the mud, the water, and the tall growing saw grass it is impossible to get through the Everglades by foot. Saw grass is so strong that really the only thing that defeats it is fires. Layers of ashes mark where old fires once were.

A major part of the Everglades is the rock it encompasses it which holds the fresh water and the grass. The surface rock below the Everglades dips south at an incline of half a foot to every six miles. The material of the rock came from the sea, which is called "oolitic limestone." With the sun and air it hardens in clumps. And in some places it becomes shelly.