History

Safety Updates

Effective immediately, Florida State Parks will follow local orders requiring facial coverings or masks to provide for staff and visitor safety. These requirements vary from area to area. Our main priority is the safety of our guests and staff. We will continue to review operations on a daily basis and make additional operational changes as may be deemed necessary for protection of public health. Please review individual park pages for specific information for each location.

View details about online payments, park and campground closures, park programs/events and facial coverings.

Limited Visitation at this Park

Effective July 2, 2020: Crystal River Archaeological State Park is open (see hours of operation and fee information below). The museum remains closed until further notice. Restroom availability may be limited. Visitors are expected to maintain distances of at least six feet apart.

Native Americans who lived here until about 500 years ago built the ceremonial mound complex at Crystal River. It was settled about 2,500 years ago when the river system and local marine estuary had matured and could provide enough food to sustain a large sedentary population.

Throughout the site's occupation, social complexities and ceremonialism changed as populations increased. Although ideas and technologies from other areas filtered in and were adopted, these coastal dwellers retained much of their own cultural identity.

Archaeological evidence shows the influence of at least three cultural periods at the Crystal River site.