Devil's Den prehistoric spring
— a winter morning rising out of the ground.
Not only on a wall.
Devil's Den prehistoric spring, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“Devil's Den is a karst window into the Floridan aquifer. The cave opens through a small hole in the ground; a wooden stair carries divers and snorkellers down into a domed chamber of clear water held at 72°F all year. On cold mornings the warm water steams up through the opening, and the locals named it for the smoke. Stalactites hang from the limestone ceiling. Bones of mastodons and saber-toothed cats have come out of the silt floor. — from the studio
The place, in three passes.
Devil's Den is a privately owned karst spring in Levy County, north-central Florida, about 6 miles east of Williston and 25 miles southwest of Gainesville. The spring sits inside a partially collapsed sinkhole that opens to the surface through a roughly 25-foot hole; the underground chamber below widens to about 200 feet across with water depths reaching 54 feet. The spring is fed by the Floridan aquifer, the same aquifer that supplies most of north Florida's drinking water and surfaces in nearby Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs.
The chamber holds a constant 72°F (22°C) year-round, the average annual temperature of the aquifer. On winter mornings, warm spring air rising through the opening into cool surface air condenses into visible steam, which is how 19th-century settlers came to call the place Devil's Den. The water is clear enough on still days for visibility over 100 feet. Stalactites hang from the dolomite ceiling, formed when the chamber sat above the water table during glacial low-stands; bones of Pleistocene mammals, including mastodon and saber-toothed cat, have been recovered from the silt floor by underwater excavations.
Devil's Den is open year-round for snorkelling, open-water diving, and certification training. Snorkelling sessions cost roughly $20 to $38 depending on day and season; certified open-water divers pay a separate fee and must show a current C-card. Wetsuits are recommended for stays longer than 30 minutes even at 72°F. Reservations are required in summer and on weekends, when the small parking lot fills early. The site is privately owned and is not part of the Florida State Park system; it is run as a campground and dive resort.
