Lake Panasoffkee, Florida

Lake Panasoffkee is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sumter County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, Lake Panasoffkee had a population of 4,072.

History

Early inhabitants

Boggy Island was an autonomous black Seminole village that was settled by Central African slaves from Kongo. Black Seminoles settled near the Boggy Island area of Lake Panasoffkee around 1813 and named it Sitarkey's Village after Sitarkey, an Alachua Seminole who had settled in the area. Nearby laid the areas of Gum Slough and Indian Mound Springs. The Seminoles used the Lake Panasoffkee area to hold councils and Green Corn Dances.

The black Seminoles raised corn, rice, and sugar cane which Dexter WHO OR WHAT IS DEXTER??? gave them in 1822. They also possibly planted one of the oldest orange groves in Florida.

Second Seminole War

Generally, the Sitakey's Village area was untouched during the Second Seminole War,

On January 10, 1837, General Thomas Sidney Jesup, looking for Osceola, raided the village. Osceola and three warriors fled. Jesup captured 16 black Seminoles while the rest of the village escaped. In all, Osceola, 50 warriors, and their families left for the headwaters of the Ocklawaha River. Twelve days later, Jesup led his troops from Fort Armstrong to the Ocklawaha River.

Modern town

According to Broward Mill, the past president of the Sumter County Historical Society, Lake Panasoffkee from the time that Sumter County was settled by whites until damaging freezes which wiped out the area's citrus industry in the 1880s and 1890s.

Charles G. King, a Cleveland entrepreneur, bought 2,500 acres (square kilometers) in Lake Panasoffkee and developed 737 acres (square kilometers) into Monarch Grove in 1908. An oak hammock on the property was left undisturbed. King and his employees used the sour oranges planted by the Seminoles for orange stock. In 1926, the grove produced about 40,000 boxes of oranges.

Lake Panasoffkee dredging

According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commissioners Bob Wattendorf and Marty Hale, Lake Panasoffkee had 15 fish camps and was considered to be one of the state's best places to fish.

In 1981, water levels in Lake Panasoffkee dropped to levels that had not been seen since 1962, the year the Wysong Dam was built. Southwest Florida Water Management District officials discussed the construction of a temporary dam to elevate water levels. Lake Panasoffkee residents believed that the Wysong Dam contributed to the destruction of the Withlacoochee River.

Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee case

On February 19, 1971, two hitchhikers from Illinois discovered the partially decomposed body of an unidentified young woman between the ages of 17 and 24 years old under the northbound lane of Lake Panasoffkee's Interstate 75 overpass. She was found with a man's belt around her neck. Sumter County authorities named her "Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee" and buried her in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Wildwood.

The sheriff's department made several attempts to identify the woman. possibly hailing from the town of Lavrion (located 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Athens). The victim is believed to have moved to the United States between one and three months prior to her murder. The new information contradicted the Sumter County Sheriff's Department's initial assumption that the Jane Doe was either white or Native American; they had created composite sketches reflecting those ethnicities. Sumter County authorities determined, based on the time of her death, that she was possibly visiting the Tarpon Springs area for the celebration of Epiphany on January 6, 1971. In 2025, she was identified as 21-year-old Maureen Rowan ().

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and 0.25% is water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Lake Panasoffkee had a population of 4,072. The median age was 50.5 years. 19.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 27.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 92.5 males age 18 and over.

0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 1,826 households in Lake Panasoffkee, of which 21.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.7% were married-couple households, 24.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Similar recreational opportunities (except no biking) are also offered at the Panasoffkee Outlet park and preserve. Both areas are protected by the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Wysong Park is a 5-acre property located on the Withlacoochee River in Lake Panasoffkee. The Wysong-Coogler Dam is located there as well.