While Exploring the St. John's River in early 1596, Don Pedro Menendez made the following notes into his diary: "We found the third village of the savages on the West bank, halfway between a very big lake and a smaller one farther up stream on a likable spot in the shade of formidable trees. The river seems to be full of goodly fish, and the forest inhabited by all kinds of birds and beasts, the meat of which is quite tasty."

The royal botanist John Bartram and his son visited the same spot in 1765 to study the flora and the fauna of the St. John's. Upon discovering a trading post named Spalding's Upper Store, they decided to stay several weeks. In his subsequent book "TRAVELS", William Bartram devoted 72 pages to describing the area in vivid and colorful detail, such as "this blessed land where the gods have amassed into one heap all the flowering plants, birds, fish and other wildlife of two continents in order to turn the rushing streams, the silent lake shores and the awe-abiding woodlands of this mysterious land into a true garden of eden."

This "likable spot of goodly fish", this "garden of Eden" is today called ASTOR and is still here for those who thirst for the unspoiled wilderness. The water of the St. John's rolling relentlessly along the evergreen shores of silent hammocks dotted with dreamy ponds and spell-bound creeks are still harboring the famous prize-winning fish, the cautious bobcats, playful otters, clumsy black bears, shy wild turkeys and the rare Florida panthers. The slender osprey is Astor's mascot bird, but standing on the shoreline you can see hundreds of egret's, herons and water turkeys. You can watch the majestic flight of the bald eagle and enjoy flowers of many colors year round.

Surrounded by the huge Ocala National Forest, and settled into the restless onyx-band of our great river, Astor is indeed the precious jewel of Central Florida one has to see just once never to forget it again.