Sawgrass-Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee

"Lady of Mystery"

In 1564, two Spaniards shipwrecked on the Guld Coast of Florida were struggling through the uncharted wilderness of Florida's interior trying to make their way to St. Augustine. In their travels, they reported the sighting of a great lake of fresh water. Lake Mayacco or Lake Macoco were names applied over the years to this great body of water.

The lake's existence remained shrowed in mystery until the mid-1803's when the U. S. Army pursued Indians to its shores during the Seminole Wars.

Lake Okeechobee is the second largest fresh water lake totally within the boundaries of the United States.

The name Okeechobee was derived from the Indian words "Oki" meaning water and "Chobee" meaning big.

It is forty-five miles in average diameter and approximately 730 square miles in area; it is about 12-14 feet deep duing times of high water, with an average depth of 10 feet.

In acerage, it measures 467,200 square acres, an area large enough to hold 500,000 football fields!