Inverness is a city in Citrus County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,543. It is the county seat of Citrus County and is home to the Citrus County Courthouse and near the Flying Eagle Preserve. Geography Inverness is located in eastern Citrus County, on the western shore of the connected Tsala Apopka and Henderson lakes. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.01%, is water. Within the city are of land reserved for passive and active park usage. Climate Inverness has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), typical of the southeastern United States, with hot, humid, summers and mild, mainly dry winters. History Archaeological digs showed that the Seminole resided in the area that is now Inverness. The Seminole leader Osceola made his wartime camp, known as Powell's Town, in the area during the Second Seminole War. The city of Inverness was originally named "Tompkinsville." White settlement of the area dates back to 1868. Tompkins, later known as "Uncle Alf", started the community. To attract newcomers to the town, he established a mail service and helped erect the first sawmill in the county. He gave his brother-in-law, Frank M. Dampier Sr., a lot to build a store, with Dampier becoming the first merchant in town. Dampier is credited with laying out the town and naming it Tompkinsville. Not many years later, the town of Tompkinsville was sold to a firm in Jacksonville, and the name was changed to "Inverness". According to the late historian Mary McRae of Homosassa, Inverness is named directly after a Scottish city of the same name. Inverness is Great Britain's most northerly city, and "the capital of the Highlands", with a population of 46,870. The story goes that Inverness, Florida got its name from a lonely Scotsman, far away from his home, who gazed upon the blue waters of the Native American-named Tsala Apopka Lake and thought the area looked like the headlands and lochs of the area surrounding Inverness in Scotland. Inver is a Gaelic word meaning "mouth of the river", the River Ness flows through the Scottish city Inverness, so Inverness literally means the mouth of the River Ness, which flows from Loch Ness, which is one of Scotland's most visited areas. Since the Florida city lies at the foot of one of the