PARK PLACES
Created in the 1930s, Florida’s state park system offers natural beauty, recreation—and a wealth of stories about our state.
By Janet Scherberger
Whether you love to camp, bike, hike, swim, kayak, canoe or immerse yourself in history, you’ll find your zen at one of Florida’s 176 state parks. Spanning more than 800,000 acres, they’re not just for scenic beauty and outdoor recreation. Many also connect Floridians with history, folklore, unique natural wonders and the cultural kaleidoscope that is our state.
Florida’s state parks hold historic homes and forts, coral reefs and waterfalls, mermaids and monkeys, salt marshes and hardwood hammocks, caverns and ravines, sand pine scrub, springs, orchids and beaches. Twenty parks boast beautiful freshwater springs, geological marvels concentrated in the central parts of the state. Others include world-renowned beaches that lure international visitors. Some are islands reachable only by boat, and a few are tiny oases smack in the middle of bustling cities.
Three times, the National Recreation and Park Association has honored the Florida Parks Service with a Gold Award, making Florida the only state to receive the recognition more than once.
What makes Florida parks so great?
“Part of it is their ecology, but it’s also their origin story,” says Clay Henderson, an environmental lawyer, educator and author. “When the Depression started and FDR wanted the Civilian Conservation Corps to build state parks, Florida had no state parks and no state planners. So they brought in the National Park Service. Florida’s first 10 state parks were built by the CCC and planned by the National Park Service. That’s the DNA that makes them different.”
Today, 30 million people visit Florida’s state parks each year, nearly twice as many as visit Disney World’s Magic Kingdom annually.
“These are iconic places in Florida,” says Eric Draper, who served as Florida Parks Director from 2017 to 2021.
Time and again, Floridians of all political persuasions have come together to protect these cherished resources from proposed development, notes Draper. “I wouldn’t call [citizens’ love for their parks] bipartisan. I would call it nonpartisan. Our parks are revered,” he says.
Henderson agrees. “We all share the same experience, which is this incredible growth machine that is Florida,” he says. “The only way to counteract that is to have places where you can enjoy peace and quiet and what drew people to Florida in the first place.”
We’ve highlighted five state parks that feature uniquely Floridian landscapes and history, each in a different region of the state. But that’s barely scratching the surface. Florida’s state park website offers well-curated information about every park and is a great place to compose your personal state-park bucket list. Start exploring at floridastateparks.org.
DO THE MATH
$3.6 billion annual economic impact
29 million visitors in 2023
800,000 acres managed
50,000 jobs supported
100 miles of beaches
8 built by the Civilian
Conservation Corps
1st: Highlands Hammock State Park opened in 1935 in Highlands County
176th: Upper Shoals State Park in Walton County, the state’s newest park, approved by the Florida Cabinet in 2024
FIVE IN FLORIDA
These parks explore ancient geology, Civil War history, iconic ecology—and more.
Freshwater lakes nestle among lofty sand dunes at Topsail Hill Preserve.
Located on Santa Rosa Beach in North Florida, Topsail Hill Preserve is named for sky-high white dunes that look like sailing ships when viewed from the Gulf. Those stunning dunes also nurture a rare coastal ecosystem of freshwater dune lakes, found in only a handful of places worldwide, including New Zealand, Australia and Madagascar.
“It’s the most beautiful beach park in the country,” declares former park director Eric Draper.
The park also represents one of Florida’s environmental victories. In the 1980s, developers planned to build a hotel, amusement park, airport and thousands of homes on the site. But they defaulted, and The Nature Conservancy, acting for the state, bought the foreclosed tract on the steps of the Defuniak Springs courthouse.
Today, walkers and birdwatchers enjoy three miles of pristine Gulf coastline and 15 miles of trails that wind through 1,600 acres of dunes, pine forests, wetlands and scrublands. RV sites, bungalows, cabins and primitive sites offer options for all camping tastes.
Pretty pedal: Rent a bike for a memorable ride along the paved trail that leads to the beach at Campbell Lake.
Not Mickey: The endangered Choctawhatchee beach mouse, first discovered on this property, can sometimes still be spotted in the dunes.
Happy glampers: New and luxuriously tricked-out tents elevate the camping experience.
Vistas at Myakka River State Park evoke scenes of the Serengeti.
Wide-open marshes and prairies that stretch as far as you can see from the banks of Florida’s first state-designated wild and scenic river might make you think you’re in Africa.
“If you can’t afford to go to the Serengeti plain, you can go to Mayakka River State Park and see the same thing. Catch it with hundreds of alligators lying on the river banks and you can suspend disbelief,” says environmental author Clay Henderson.
One of eight Florida parks developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, including cabins constructed of sabal palms that visitors can rent, Myakka is also one of the state’s largest parks, spanning 37,000 acres. Boating, fishing, canoeing and kayaking are popular activities. Hikers and bicyclists can explore miles of back roads and trails, including a bird walk over Lake Myakka. Guided tram tours run Monday through Thursday.
Treetop tour: The 25-foot-high Myakka Canopy Walkway provides a birds’-eye view of the park and a close look at life in the canopy. Completed in 2000, it’s the first public treetop trail in North America.
Gators galore: In spring, sign up for the hike to Deep Hole, where an infinity of alligators wallows together.
Legacy of land: Chicago heiress Bertha Palmer purchased the land that would become Myakka River State Park when her sons donated it to the state.
Windley Key Fossil Reef offers glimpses of ancient—and recent—history.
Most drivers on the Overseas Highway leading to Key West whiz by, unaware of the fascinating little spit of land that makes up Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park. This small but mighty park bookends Florida history. Visitors can learn about primordial days, when coral thrived underwater, and the early 1900s, when Henry Flagler quarried the now-hardened, aboveground coral limestone to build his ambitious (and destroyed by a 1935 hurricane) railroad. Decades later, the quarry produced decorative keystone for building construction.
The park displays old quarry machinery and the ruins of the railroad depot, along with exhibits about the natural cultural and geological history of the area.
A hiking trail runs along 8-foot-high quarry walls that reveal cross sections of the ancient coral, including star coral, brain coral and finger corals. The Miami Geological Society helped fight to maintain the area as a geological site of interest when it was threatened by developers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The state purchased the land in 1985, preserving it for future generations.
Windley Key Fossil Reef offers glimpses of ancient—and recent—history.
Most drivers on the Overseas Highway leading to Key West whiz by, unaware of the fascinating little spit of land that makes up Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park. This small but mighty park bookends Florida history. Visitors can learn about primordial days, when coral thrived underwater, and the early 1900s, when Henry Flagler quarried the now-hardened, aboveground coral limestone to build his ambitious (and destroyed by a 1935 hurricane) railroad. Decades later, the quarry produced decorative keystone for building construction.
The park displays old quarry machinery and the ruins of the railroad depot, along with exhibits about the natural cultural and geological history of the area.
A hiking trail runs along 8-foot-high quarry walls that reveal cross sections of the ancient coral, including star coral, brain coral and finger corals. The Miami Geological Society helped fight to maintain the area as a geological site of interest when it was threatened by developers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The state purchased the land in 1985, preserving it for future generations.
Civil War history and seaside nature at Fort Clinch State Park.
This Fernandina Beach spot is famous for showcasing Florida’s Civil War history. Visitors can travel back in time, exploring bastions, guard rooms, a prison, barracks, hospital and blacksmith shop, where staff and volunteers in period dress depict daily life. The 1,400-acre fort also boasts hiking and biking trails and beautiful sand beaches where visitors can fish, shell, hunt for shark’s teeth and maybe see a gopher tortoise.
“It’s an incredibly beautiful beach park and has one of my favorite bike trails,” Draper says. “My daughter got married there on the marsh.”
He cautions, though, if you’re attending one of the popular Civil War reenactments, “Don’t stand too close to the cannons when they fire them. They’re noisy.”
Night magic: Guided candlelit tours of the fort are offered the first Saturday of every month, 30 minutes after sunset.
Into the woods: The Willow Pond Nature Trail passes through a live oak forest draped with resurrection ferns, orchids and Spanish moss.
Tours of duty: Fort Clinch served as a military post during three engagements: the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World War II.
Silver Springs State Park was the state’s first tourist attraction.
Before there was Disney World, there was Silver Springs. In the 1820s, the nation’s largest freshwater spring drew adventure seekers, who poled their way over the crystal-clear water through overhanging cypress and Spanish moss. Some 50 years later, two enterprising river guides put a piece of glass in the bottom of a rowboat, and the Silver River’s glass-bottom boat tours have been world-famous ever since.
“People would take the train to Jacksonville and the steamboat from the St. Johns River up the Oklawaha to Silver Springs,” Henderson says.
In 1985, the state took over the land around Silver Springs to create Silver River State Park, later building a ranger station, campground and kayak launch. The state purchased Silver Springs in 1993, but private operators continued its management until 2013, when the state merged it with Silver River State Park to create Silver Springs State Park.
Monkey business: The park is the only place in Florida where you can see wild monkeys. They’re descendants of primates released there by a tour boat operator in the 1930s.
On location: Scenes from more than 20 movies have been filmed at Silver Springs, including “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and several Tarzan films. Underwater scenes for “Rebel Without a Cause” and the James Bond movie “Moonraker” were also shot here.
MORE TO EXPLORE PARK YOURSELF AT THESE ADDITIONAL SPOTS.
Fort Mose Historic Park
Honoring the first free Black settlement in the United States, this park in St. Augustine also hosts an annual Jazz and Blues Festival in February that has attracted such national talent as Gladys Knight, Common and Gregory Porter.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park
Majorie Kinnan Rawlings, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of The Yearling, and her Cracker-style home are considered by many to be the person and place that best capture the soul of Florida. You’ll feel it here as you wander the grounds of this 1930s farm, which looks much as it did when she chronicled her time here in the book Cross Creek. Her typewriter is on view on the screened porch. Tours of the historic home are available on select days.
Ybor City Museum State Park
Located in the historic Ferlita Bakery, this urban park celebrates the cultural history of the cigar-making industry that fueled Tampa’s growth from 1886 until the 1930s. The museum includes several renovated homes of cigar workers, giving visitors a glimpse into the lives of the people there more than 100 years ago.
John Gorrie Museum Park.
If it weren’t for John Gorrie, you probably wouldn’t be living in Florida. He was a physician who in the mid-1800s invented a method for cooling the sickrooms of his yellow-fever patients, laying the groundwork for the modern air conditioning that made Florida truly hospitable. This interesting little museum in Apalachicola honors his legacy.
Highland Hammocks State Park
Florida’s first and some say one of its best state parks boasts nine hiking trails, including an elevated boardwalk through a cypress swamp, and a three-mile bike loop. Tram tours are available for those who prefer a more leisurely way to take in this ancient hammock and the richly divergent plant and animal life that call it home. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Sebring park’s museum chronicles the lives of the young men who built Florida’s eight C.C.C. parks.
