Introduction: “Big Water” Seen from the Shore
To stand on the rim of Lake Okeechobee is to confront something both vast and deceptively calm. The name of the lake derives from the Hitchiti or Seminole words oki (water) and chubi (big) — literally, “big water.”
For travelers who follow the scenic route that encircles the lake, the journey becomes more than a drive or a walk: it becomes a sweep of Florida’s natural history, human ambition, environmental conflict and enduring beauty. This route offers views of levees, wetlands, marshes, and the rim canal, each telling a chapter of a story that spans thousands of years.
This article traces the full arc of that story: the formation of the lake, Indigenous connections, European arrival, drainage and development, the building of the scenic route, modern environmental challenges, and the future of the lake’s panorama for visitors and preservationists alike.
Origins of the Inland Sea
The story begins long before roads and trails. Lake Okeechobee’s basin was shaped by geological and hydrologic processes over millennia. Scientists describe it as a depression in Florida’s limestone plateau, formed by gentle uplift and sedimentation, later filled by rising seas and peat accumulation.
Originally, the lake’s southern edge overflowed naturally into marshes and into what became the Everglades — earning it the moniker “mother of the Everglades.”
In its natural state, the lake’s shallow waters supported vast wetlands, islands, and water-flow patterns that predated man-made modifications. shutdown123