Highlands Hammock State Park
Encyclopedia : H : HI : HIG : Highlands Hammock State Park
Highlands Hammock State Park is a 4,896-acre park four miles west of Sebring in Highlands County, Florida. The park opened in 1931, five years before the Florida state park system was created, by local citizens who were concerned about plans to turn the hammock into farmland; they acquired the property and promoted it as a candidate for national park status, an early example of grass-roots, public support for environmental preservation. One of the prime movers behind the effort was Mrs. Margaret Roebling, daughter-in-law of Washington Augustus Roebling.
The park was taken over by the state when the state park system was created, as one of the four original state parks. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established during the Great Depression, built a camp at Highlands Hammock as a headquarters, and developed additional park facilities and the beginnings of a botanical garden. The history of the CCC in Florida State Parks is preserved in a museum in the park.
The park includes a scenic three-mile loop drive that gives access to the park´s nine trails. Elevated boardwalks meander through an old-growth bald cypress swamp with cabbage palmettos, ferns, bromeliads, orchids and other epiphytes. Some trees are believed to be over a thousand years old, and one is possibly the largest oak in Florida, with a girth of over 36 feet. An eleven-mile trail can be used by bicyclists and horseback riders. Ranger-guided tours of the park are scheduled frequently. White-tailed deer, alligators, otters, Pileated Woodpeckers, Red-shouldered Hawks, barred owls and Florida Scrub-Jays are common in the park, while black bears, Bald Eagles, bobcats and the rare Florida panther are seen on occasion.
There is a campground with full hookups, and an areas for primitive and group camping. A restaurant is located on the park grounds.
External links
- [Highlands Hammock State Park]
- [Map of Highlands Hammock State Park]
- [Greater Lake Placid Florida Chamber of Commerce-- Photos of the Park]
- [History of the Park]
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