Bayport Inn, Spring Hill

The original town of Bay Port (now spelled Bayport) was established at the end of the Second Seminole Indian War, ca. 1852. The town was located at the mouth of the Weeki Wachee River on the Gulf of Mexico in what is now West-Hernando County. The original settlers saw a need for a local port to facilitate the export of the county's agricultural products and to import much-needed supplies to the area. The Bay Port community grew and strived. By 1884, the town of Bay Port had an estimated 60 residents! (Remarkably, the 2000 U.S. Census reports there are currently 36 people residing in the Bayport community; the town that time forgot!)