If you are looking for a scenic setting  to enjoy a picnic lunch or just want to take a stroll and observe the natural surroundings, Cooter Pond Park is the place. The park is located within walking distance of the redeveloped downtown with its shops and restaurants.

The park boasts a beautiful boardwalk with trail markers on the railings providing you distance walked. The boardwalk also features several overlooks from which to view the pond's fountain, sit and relax or cast a line and fish.

You will also find picnic areas, a pavilion, walking paths and a nature trail. During your stroll, interpretative signage allows you to learn a little bit about the wildlife both in and about Cooter Pond. 

For those who would prefer to tour the pond via canoe, parking and a launch is located off of Mill Street.

The park offers a free, up close look at some of the native animals that call the pond home. Included is the namesake cooter turtle from which the pond is named. 

Lurking among the reeds and supports for the boardwalk are several alligators ranging in size from 4 to 7 feet long. Though there is not an exact count of how many live in the pond, the reptiles are often spotted cruising the waters looking for food, their head and snout the only thing visible as a wake trails behind it. 

There are numerous fish in the pond, including small bass and bluegill. When visiting the pond, you're almost guaranteed to see any one of several species of birds, including storks, egrets and herons.

Do you have a wildlife photo you took at Cooter Pond that you want to share? Click here to email it in.  

There's a famous quote from the 1962 Western "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" that goes, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." It's a suggestion that popular culture frequently turns legends into acceptable truths.  It could also imply that legends are sometimes far more intriguing than what history truly reveals. In the case of Cooter Pond, the legend of what supposedly lies beneath has proven to be popular lore.

On the bottom of the pond is said to be at least three railroad cars from a derailment that occurred there in the 1930's. At the time, the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) operated a railroad between Floral City and Dunnellon.  According to residents quoted in newspaper articles in 1983, a locomotive carrying numerous commodities went off the tracks and into the chin deep water.

According to Albert Johnson of Inverness, quoted in this Ocala Star-Banner article, his grandfather told him of a flat car and several box cars that derailed.  He told the paper that the cars were loaded with canned hams and women's apparel, and that "many town residents lined the banks and dove in" to try and retrieve items. Johnson said his grandfather told him a large alligator inhabiting the water scared off the treasure seekers.

Another man quoted in a separate newspaper article said some cars were filled with Chevrolet automobiles.  While some others claimed to have seen wheels and axles when the water was shallower, to date, nothing has been recovered. According to a spokesman from ACL quoted in the Star-Banner story, the last-known derailment in the area was in 1942, and no records existed earlier than that.  It's possible there was a derailment and it was simply too expensive to attempt to retrieve the cars, the spokesman said. The rail line since merged several times with other companies, and is now part of CSX Transportation.

Plans are underway to add eye-catching theme and accent lighting to the boardwalk decking, pavilion and gazebo. Part of the concept will involve lightning with programmable colors for special occasions, such as holidays and events.

Hours:  Sunrise to sunset, seven days a week

Location  View map
181 Hwy 41 South
Inverness, FL 34450