Last updated on December 1st, 2024 at 09:49 pm
Florida has award-winning state parks – it’s the only state park system to be named the best in the United States four times. But its beginnings were humble.
I bet you can’t name Florida’s very first state park.
Did you answer: Olustee Battlefield in Sanderson? Olustee was founded in 1909 as a memorial to the Battle of Olustee, a Confederate victory in the Civil War, and it’s 45 minutes west of Jacksonville. (Read more about Olustee Historic State Park below.)
While Olustee has traditionally been considered the first state park, it didn’t offer outdoor recreation; it wasn’t a state park as we envision one today.
But there were few state parks anywhere in 1909 and only nine national parks. (Yellowstone, 1872; Sequoia, 1890; Yosemite, 1890; Mount Rainier, 1899; Crater Lake, 1902; Wind Cave, 1903, and Mesa Verde, 1906.)
Florida’s recreation-oriented state parks weren’t developed until a very appealing federal program provided some motivation — jobs. It was the depth of the Great Depression and President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps could bring desperately needed jobs to young men in Florida, if only Florida created some locations for their camps and projects for them to tackle.
Florida did, and as a result, eight terrific parks were opened between 1935 and 1941, and millions of people have visited and enjoyed them since. I was surprised to see that several of these parks are off the beaten path and get fewer visitors than better known parks, which makes these original parks worth rediscovering.
Here is your guide to the nine oldest Florida state parks and why you should visit them today. (If you want to learn more about the CCC, Florida Rambler has a story on CCC operations in Florida parks and about the fascinating CCC museum in Highland Hammocks State park.)
Highland Hammocks in Sebring is often called the oldest Florida State park
Highland Hammocks is so beautiful that in 1929, local Sebring leaders lobbied to have it preserved as a national park. A federal official who visited said it was too small, so a local family donated land and $400,000 Depression-era dollars to develop it as a small state park, which opened in 1931. When the CCC came along, it was the perfect candidate for further development and expansion.
Highland Hammocks is located on the Lake Wales Ridge, a spine that runs 100 miles up the middle of Central Florida below Orlando. Millions of years ago, it was the only land protruding from an ancient sea. Like isolated islands (think the Galapagos) the result was many species survived here and nowhere else. Today the park has great biodiversity and many rare plants.
Why visit today? For visitors, the most impressive thing is the old-growth hammock and the ancient live oaks, some nearly a thousand years old. The park has many short nature trails including three boardwalk trails, equestrian trails and mountain-biking trails. Don’t miss the most popular, the Cypress Swamp Trail, a boardwalk where pets are not allowed and alligators and wildlife are often seen.
Campers love the beautiful setting of its campgrounds, which include 16 wilderness tent sites.
Here’s a Florida Rambler guide to Highland Hammocks State Park.
Hillsborough River State Park in Thonotosassa, a park with river rapids
This exceptional park near Tampa is closed due to flooding damage from Hurricane Milton in October 2024. It is one of the first three state parks created by the CCC, opening in 1935.
When it reopens, you’ll find it is a beautiful forested landscape offering a great variety of activities — good camping, glamping, a swimming pool, great hiking trails and outstanding kayaking. CCC-built structures include picnic pavilions and a rustic pedestrian suspension bridge.
Why visit today? When it reopens, visit because of the wild rushing river, which offers Class II rapids — more challenging kayaking and canoeing than most Florida parks. Florida Rambler on Hillsborough River State Park.
Fort Clinch State, Fernandina Beach: Back in time in Civil War fort, Old Florida landscape
With 1,400 acres, this park is big and beautiful and it will take days to experience it all.
This state park opened in 1935 and without the CCC, the historic fort might not have been preserved at all. The fort had been closed and abandoned since 1898, deteriorating badly. The CCC men removed more than 10,000 cubic yards of sand and debris from the fort — by shovel and wheelbarrow!
Why visit today? When you drive into the park on a three-mile road, you travel through a pristine maritime hammock on a road covered by a canopy of oak trees draped in Spanish moss. If you like that feeling of going back to Old Florida, then visit Fort Clinch to experience the living history experience in the fort, where volunteers become soldiers from 100 years ago.
But there are many other reasons to visit: Stroll or even bike on the mile-long broad, hard-packed beach. Or come to camp or to hike or to fish — this park has it all. Florida Rambler on Fort Clinch State Park.
Torreya State Park in Bristol: Rare trees, steep bluffs, big views
This Panhandle park is little known, rural and isolated. It doesn’t have beaches or springs and, as a result, it gets fewer visitors than most Florida parks. (That’s why some people love it.)
The park opened in 1939, and was selected for CCC development because of its Civil War era history. There are six Confederate gun pits on a bluff and an antebellum cotton warehouse at Rock Bluff Landing. One project the CCC was assigned: Dismantling and relocating the historic Jason Gregory House from across the Apalachicola River. The house is now on a high bluffs with a spectacular view overlooking the river. You can tour it on weekends.
Torreya’s forests are still recovering from hurricane damage from Hurricane Michael in 2018, which tore through the tree canopy, including damaging the nearly extinct torreya trees after which the park is named. Some of the trails are still difficult as a result.
Why visit today? The park has some of the highest and steepest bluffs in Florida.
Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park: Immerse in nature
About a half hour from Gainesville in Northern Florida, we consider this park an unsung treasure because of its cabins and excellent campground. The water in Gold Head Branch has cut a deep ravine through the park. It’s surrounded by a hardwood forest with wildlife surrounded by a rolling sand-hill terrain unique to this part of Florida.
It opened in 1939 and CCC handiwork is evident and preserved here.
Why visit today? With 2,400 acres, this is a great park to spend a few days in nature hiking, birding, swimming in the lake, hiking a 5-mile section of the Florida Trail and enjoying campfires. The park has 73 campsites 16 vacation cabins overlooking Lake Johnson, nine of which were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. These historic cabins are a bargain — $63 a night. Even the modern cabins are only $100 a night.
Florida Rambler on Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park
O’Leno State Park in High Springs: The mystery of the disappearing river
O’Leno has something you won’t find anywhere else: A river that disappears into the ground, only to emerge three miles later after traveling through underground caverns. The Santa Fe River provides the perfect scenery for a great little 1.3 mile hike along the river bank to the sink, where the river abruptly “ends” in a large pond and disappears.
Opened in 1940, O’Leno preserves extensive CCC structures — an iconic suspension bridge (unfortunately closed) and 16 historic cabins intended for groups, but available individually when not booked.
Why visit today? O’Leno is unique because of the sinking river, but it also is a great place for shady hikes, camping in a beautiful mature forest, fishing and kayaking on the Santa Fe.
Florida Rambler on O’Leno State Park in High Springs
Florida Caverns State Park: Yes, underground caverns in Florida
Were it not for the CCC, there might never have been a Florida Caverns State Park. In the late 1930s, a government surveyor had crawled into a cave where he could see beautiful rock formations.
In 1938, a camp was established to make this cavern accessible. The CCC men removed tons of rock and mud from the cave floor and constructed underground trails into three rooms. After thousands of man-hours of work, the cave opened in 1941. The men also built the visitor center, which houses a museum.
Why visit it now? I haven’t visited this park – it’s way up north, an hour northwest of Tallahassee – but people who have rave about how interesting and beautiful the caverns are. The campground is popular too. And, if you visit on a hot day, you get to experience Mother Nature’s AC in the cave.
Myakka River State Park in Sarasota: One of Florida’s very best
The last of the CCC-built parks, Myakka opened in 1941. Originally owned by Chicago businesswoman Bertha Palmer, over 17,000 acres of her estate were purchased by Florida — at 37 1/2 cents an acre! — to develop the park.
The CCC made this vast land of water, woods and wildlife accessible for recreation and many CCC structures are still used today, such as the visitor center, two picnic pavilions, five rental log cabins, roads, bridges and trails. We have been thrilled to stay in the charming CCC cabins, built out of palm-tree logs!
Why visit now? If you’re reading this story, you probably love to do all the things that are offered at Myakka – hiking, bicycling, birding, viewing wildlife, camping. People love the canopy walk, an elevated walkway through the canopy of magnificent old live oaks. (Closed at the moment from hurricane damage.) We love kayaking here, where we’ve seen flocks of roseate spoonbills and more alligators in one place than anywhere we’ve been. Myakka makes our list of the eight best state parks in Florida.
Florida Rambler on Myakka River State Park
Olustee State Park: Biggest Civil War battle re-enactments in the Southeast
Florida’s very first state park tells you a lot about Florida’s roots as an enthusiastic member of the Confederate States of America. Living in South Florida as I do, it’s easy for me to forget this history. But in 1909, a movement to redefine the Civil War as the glorious “Lost Cause” was all the rage in the South along with Jim Crow laws and lynchings. It was at this point that Florida decided to memorialize the minor confederate victory in the Battle of Olustee.
The small park about 50 miles west of Jacksonville is a pine forest where 10,000 cavalry, infantry and artillery troops fought for five hours, with tremendous casualties. Among Union troops were three U.S. Colored Regiments, including the now famous all-black volunteer unit, the 54th Massachusetts, the regiment immortalized in the 1989 movie, Glory.
Olustee State Park receives nearly all its annual visitors on one weekend a year when the battle is re-enacted. In 2025, the event will be Feb. 14-16, marking the 48th year for the event.
“Hear the cannons fire, smell the black powder, taste hard tack, watch battlefield surgeons perform their skills, listen for the thundering hoofbeats of the calvary, the muffled drums, and the pounding of boots,” the state park website says. Throughout the weekend, more than 1,000 demonstrators present living history impressions of military and civilian life at the time of Florida’s largest Civil War battle.
Florida Rambler on Olustee State Park and its Civil War re-enactment event
More about Florida State Parks
- CCC Florida: State park history is a story from a simpler time
- Florida cabins in state parks: 16 places to stay amid nature
- Best Florida State Parks: Our 8 favorites
- Hidden gems: 12 of the best less-visited Florida State Parks to discover
- 11 remarkable state parks in the Florida Keys
- 14 enchanting Central Florida state parks with camping
- 14 North Florida state parks with camping
- 14 Florida State Parks with Camping in the Panhandle
- Paradise found at 9 South Florida state parks with camping
- 7 Florida State Parks with camping near Tampa Bay
