The river hums with echoes of history –of the booming days of plantations and logging empires, of the high times of paddle-wheel boats steaming up and down the river, of the long disorientation after the Civil War, and of the quiet persistence of the strong pioneers who lived off this land and profited from the rivers.

South of the junction of the rivers, an earthwork (an earthen embankment used as a military fortification) was constructed by the Confederates during the Civil War. Its main purpose was to protect the railroad bridge across the Suwannee. Essential supplies, such as beef, salt, and sugar needed to feed the Confederate armies, were shipped by rail to Georgia. Union troops dispatched from Jacksonville to capture the bridge were turned back near Olustee in a hard-fought battle on Feb. 20, 1864. The town of Columbus stood in the vicinity of the earthworks. The remains of the Columbus Cemetery, believed to be one of the oldest cemeteries of Florida, are within the park. Columbus had its heyday and prospered from its railroad bridge, ferry landing, and a large sawmill. Steamboats were a common sight on the Suwannee and Withlacoochee. Near the river’s junction stood the elegant house which belonged to George F. Drew, the operator of the sawmill, who became governor in 1876.