Weeki Wachee is an unincorporated community and former city located in

Hernando County Hernando County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 194,515. Its county seat is Brooksville, and its largest community is Spring Hill. Hernando County is ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, the community has a total population of 16. The

Weeki Wachee Preserve Weeki Wachee Preserve (also given as Weekiwachee Preserve) is an 11,206 acre preserve in Hernando County, Florida. The preserve is located at 2345 Osowaw Boulevard in Spring Hill, Florida. The preserve offers recreational opportunities such as hi ...

and the

Weeki Wachee Springs Weeki Wachee Springs is a natural tourist attraction located in Weeki Wachee, Florida, where underwater performances by " mermaids," women wearing fish tails as well as other fanciful outfits, can be viewed in an aquarium-like setting in the spr ...

park are located in the area. The park includes water rides, animal shows,

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

costume shows, and

manatee Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living speci ...

watching. The communities of Weeki Wachee Gardens and Spring Hill are nearby.

History

Weeki Wachee was founded as a city in 1966 to promote the local mermaid attraction. With fewer than 15 residents, and increased concerns over the city's finances, services, and state park operations, state representative Blaise Ingoglia sponsored a bill to dissolve the city, and Governor

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Represe ...

signed it into law in June 2020.

, the county the former city resides in, was responsible for resolving its financial issues. Park operations were not affected.

Geography

The former city boundaries of Weeki Wachee was located in western Hernando County at . Via U.S. Route 19, it was north of

Port Richey Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. History In 1883, Aaron M. Richey arrived from St. Joseph, Missouri, and se ...

and south of Homosassa Springs. Via Florida State Road 50, Weeki Wachee was west of Brooksville, the Hernando County seat. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy An economy is an area of th ...

, the city had a total area of , of which , or 4.68%, was water.

Demographics

As of the

2000 U.S. Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...

, there were 12 people, five households, and five families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 11.8 people per square mile (4.5/km). There were five housing units at an average density of 4.9 per square mile (1.9/km). As identified by the census, no one in Weeki Wachee was

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino. All residents were

White White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

except for one Native American member of the

Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Little River Band of Ottawa Indians ( oj, Gaaching-Ziibi Daawaa Anishinaabe) is a federally recognized Native American tribe of the Odawa people in the United States. It is based in Manistee and Mason counties in northwest Michigan. It was recogn ...

Weeki Wachee Springs

Tourist attraction

, the spring of the Weeki Wachee River, is a Florida tourist attraction where underwater performances by

s — women dressed in fancy outfits with fins about their legs — can be viewed in an aquarium-like setting. The attraction includes a Buccaneer Bay water park, animal shows, and boat rides. General Manager Robyn Anderson was the town's mayor. The park is now a Florida State Park and is owned and managed by the State Parks department.

Deepest naturally formed spring in the United States

From May 22 until August 30, 2007, the discharge level at Weeki Wachee spring dropped to a level that allowed for cave divers to gain effective entry into the cave system at the spring. The Karst Underwater Research team successfully executed exploration dives and the necessary in-water decompression to explore approximately in multiple passages at an average depth of fresh water (ffw) with a maximum depth of ffw.

References

External links

Weeki Wachee Springs
official site
Weeki Wachee Cave System

{{authority control Cities in Hernando County, Florida Cities in the Tampa Bay area Cities in Florida Populated places disestablished in 2020 Former municipalities in Florida