Dunnellon

Exploring Dunnellon

Settled in the late 1800s after the first discovery of phosphate in Florida, Dunnellon was a mining boomtown in its early history. One of the mining areas, on a bluff overlooking a beautiful spring, was converted to Rainbow Springs, as a public garden in the 1930s and later a natural attraction. It’s been a Florida State Park for several decades now, which preserved it from development.

Dunnellon is a fabulous destination for anyone who loves trails. This is a Trail Town on the Florida Trail, which comes in and out of town on what now are paved bicycle paths and becomes a footpath again heading east from the Pruitt trailhead along the Cross Florida Greenway. The Withlacoochee State Trail starts just south of town and heads to Dade City. The Dunnellon Trail is one paved segment of a network of paved trails under development on the Cross Florida Greenway.

Paddlers can head out on both the Withlacoochee River and Rainbow River right from downtown, with canoe, kayak, and SUP rentals available at several locations. Tubing is huge on the Rainbow River in the summer months, aided by outfitters who specialize in shuttling and providing tubes for a float from the KP Hole or Rainbow Springs State Park tubing put-in down to Blue Run Park.