Palatka – Images of a Florida Town

The city of Palatka is the county seat of Putnam County, Florida with a population of 10,446 according to the 2020 census. The formal boundaries for the City of Palatka encompass a land area of 8.53 sq. miles and a water area of 0.56 sq. miles.

The original Native American translation for the name Palatka was Pilo-taikita, which meant ‘cow crossing’ or ‘cow ford’. The Spanish began developing Pilo-taikita as early as 1655. During this time, the area was occupied by the Timucuan people. The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida as well as southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in the area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the Timucua language. In 1595 their population was estimated to be more than 200,000, but due to infectious diseases that came from European settlement, slave raids by Carolina settlers, and tribal differences their numbers had fallen to about 1,000 by 1700. The remaining tribes people evacuated to Cuba with the Spanish in 1763 when Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain after the Seven Years’ War.

Ravine Gardens State Park

Ravine Gardens is a 152-acre state park located on 1600 Twigg Street in Palatka, Florida. The park contains steep ravines surrounding a small spring-fed stream called Whitewater Branch which flows east into the St. Johns River. The ravines slope down to the branch, with elevations up to 120 feet. The native vegetation in the ravines ranges from bays, hollies and native azaleas on the lower slopes, and dogwoods, magnolias, laurel oaks and live oaks on the upper slopes. Today, the vegetation is a mix of native species and ornamental, primarily azaleas, introduced during the 1930s when the gardens were developed.