US-17 parallels the river most of the way. The river was named Rio de la Paz by the Spanish in the 1500s. The state played a strategic part in the course of the Civil War, siding with the Confederacy. Write-up-war reconstruction and the next boom in tourism and agriculture, notably https://riversinfloridatoswim76419.verybigblog.com/32554765/5-simple-statements-about-rivers-in-clearwater-florida-explained