Five hundred Spanish soldiers marched four days through marsh, forest tangle, fierce winds, and heavy rainfall to an encampment near here. This is where Menendez and his men camped, exhausted and weary, the night before the attack and capture of Fort Caroline. Today, Spanish Pond's boardwalk and trail provide an opportunity for a quiet walk and connects you to more trails through pine flatwoods, oak hammock, tidal marsh in the neighboring Theodore Roosevelt Area. Spanish Pond is located across from the entrance to Fort Caroline National Memorial and is open from sunrise to sunset daily.
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Fort Caroline memorializes the short-lived French presence in sixteenth century Florida. Here you will find stories of exploration, survival, religious disputes, territorial battles, and first contact between American Indians and Europeans. This site hosts the visitor center for the entire Timucuan Preserve. Open 7 days a week the museum is open from 9 am to 4:45 pm.
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The Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens is a 120-acre urban woodland full of trails for you to explore and enjoy. From the trailhead next to the parking lot, a stabilized walkway encircles a beautiful two-acre lake. This trail gently descends about 25 feet to the foot of the lake and then returns up a gentle slope on the opposite side to the trailhead. Interpretive signs and over 100 labeled plants enhance the loop. In addition, over three miles of rustic hiking trails wind quietly through a series of distinct ecological habitats. Along the trails, benches invite you either to pause and enjoy the view or to get in a good stretch during a vigorous walk. Open 8am to 5pm extended to 7pm Monday-Thursday throughout the Summer.
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Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park is a 1.5-mile public beach and city park in Jacksonville, Florida. It is located at Mayport in the Jacksonville Beaches area. It consists of 447 acres of mature coastal hammock, which is increasingly rare along Florida's heavily developed Atlantic coast. Park hours are 8AM - 8PM [April - October] and 8AM - 6PM [November - March]. $3 per pedestrian and bicyclist 8AM to close $5 per car (up to six people) 8AM to close.
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A site of human occupation for over 5,000 years, Fort George Island was named for a 1736 fort built to defend the Ribault Clubsouthern flank of Georgia when it was a colony. Today's visitors come for boating, fishing, off-road bicycling, and hiking. Park hours are 8AM - Sundown
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This 2.85 mile trail traverses the gambit of UNF habitats; from Swamp to Sand-hill, Flatwoods to Seepage Slope. Named for the goldenrod flowers that bloom in the Fall season, this single track provides good cover for birding and occupies a transition zone between swamp and sand-hill. This trail overlaps the Blueberry Trail at times. Park hours are Sunrise - Sundown
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The Theodore Roosevelt Area is a 600-acre natural treasure of hardwood forest, wetlands, and scrub vegetation. It is also rich in cultural history. Visitors can experience miles of thickly wooded peaceful nature trails, vast grassland that supports both water and land animals, ancient piles of discarded oyster shells which yield clues about an extinct culture, and the legacy of preservation bequeathed to all by this property's last private owner, Willie Browne. Park hours are 9:00AM - 4:45PM
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The land was first leased from the Navy in 1979. A decade later, then-Councilwoman Tillie Fowler (later U.S. Representative) began to push hard to develop the land. Remnants of an 16-foot wide brick road linked Ortega to Jacksonville and can be found at several locations in the park. Park hours are 5:00AM - 9:00PM
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The area is located on a peninsula formed at the confluence of Julington and Durbin creeks, and has approximately nine miles of shoreline along the two creeks. The peninsula is a long sandy ridge that grades into floodplain swamp and marsh along the creeks’ shores. Park hours are Dawn - Dusk
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The preserves are located in a pristine salt marsh ecosystem that offers visitors exceptional wildlife viewing. Tranquility awaits visitors along the 3 miles of hiking trails through pine flatwoods and live oak hammocks. Park hours are Dawn - Dusk
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The preserves are located in a pristine salt marsh ecosystem that offers visitors exceptional wildlife viewing. Tranquility awaits visitors along the 3 miles of hiking trails through pine flatwoods and live oak hammocks. Park hours are Dawn - Dusk
To Learn more visit their website or read about our experience in our blog.
Bogey Creek Preserve is a 75-acre scenic preserve consisting of a mix of maritime hammock forest, seep-fed cypress swamps and mixed pine-oak forest. The preserve neighbors Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park and the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and protects nearly one mile of critical marsh front on Clapboard and Bogey Creeks. Park hours are Dawn - Dusk
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Tucked beneath the oaks and a short 5-minute drive from I295 and Heckscher Drive, Yellow Bluff Fort preserves an important piece of Jacksonville’s Civil War history. It’s the perfect place to enjoy your picnic lunch break in the shade. Afterwards, stroll through the contours of this T-shaped earthwork fort along the ½ mile nature trail and imagine the 250 troops encamped here in simple fabric tents. You can almost hear the crackling of the campfire and murmur of comradery on a cool fall night. Built in 1862, both Confederate and then Union troops used the site to defend their post on the St. Johns River. Keep an eye out for wildlife like Red Fox and Pileated Woodpeckers too! 8 a.m. until sunset, 365 days
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