The Backstory: The Devil's Millhopper
A sinkhole in Gainesville is a treasure trove of geological secrets and stories
Hi there! It’s May. In Florida that means the heat is already making me think of all the cooler places I might escape to since May is really just a pre-heating for the rest of the summer. Sometimes those cooler places are quite surprising.
Take the Devil’s Millhopper, for example. Despite the name, the Devil’s Millhopper is kinda lovely. Part of a geological state park in Gainesville, Fla., it’s known for the 120-foot-deep sinkhole that opens into a bowl shape at the bottom. Visitors have been traveling there since the late 1800s.
Sometime in the 1930s, a railed stairway was built to make it easier for people to go down to the bottom to view it from a platform. Researchers and visitors to the area find geological treasures, including fossils, and the biodiversity of a miniature rain forest. Fossil shark teeth, marine shells and remains of extinct land animals have been found alongside prehistoric archaeological artifacts like arrowheads.
A collapse of limestone caused the sinkhole, but in the imaginations of locals and visitors alike, the reason it appeared leans far more supernatural, and is likely how the Devil got top billing when they were naming the place.
There is definitely something that feels a little otherworldly as you descend from a sandy pine forest typical for the area into fern-covered, lush and cooler depths. The damp green space is an environment unto itself fed by 12 streams on the surface and canopied in shade. It’s a little bubble that sticks out like a sore thumb and might be eerie if it wasn’t such a welcome respite from the frequently sweltering temperatures outside of it.
Now, back to the name. It wasn’t just fossils that were discovered at the site. The muddy ground was home to the bones of countless animals. So, it was said that they went to the Devil at the bottom of the sinkhole to meet their deaths.
However, some Florida folklore says the name came from a much more sinister story where the Devil himself kidnapped a beautiful Native American maiden. Below, you can listen to a short audio clip of folk storyteller and former director of the Florida Folk Festival Thelma Ann Boltin (1904-1992) sharing the legend in the oral tradition. She recorded the story for the students at Mary E. Taylor School in Camden, Maine. It cuts off before the end of the story, but it gives you a sense of what’s been passed down and how old the story is.
Audio recording: Boltin, "Cousin" Thelma Ann, 1904-1992. Legend of the Devil's Mill Hopper. 1981. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory
It feels so much like a fairy tale, that it’s inspired me to seek out more legends and write stories from them in a shorter style that could easily start with “Once upon a time…”
Let’s see what happens.
Wow what a fun little tale :0 It's extra cool that you have an oral recording of it. Thanks for sharing!