Highlands Hammock State Park

Highlands Hammock: Florida's First State Park

14 stops· 16 min· 3.3 mi

A slow drive through a piece of Florida the way it looked a thousand years ago — Highlands Hammock, one of the oldest state parks in Florida and one of the last great stands of virgin subtropical forest left anywhere. Ranger Quinn drives you around the park's famous three-mile Loop Drive, beneath ancient live oaks and towering cypress, past the old catwalk over the alligator swamp, telling you what lives in this wild green tangle and how it works. Ranger Boone Merrick rides along with the tales: the remarkable woman of the Brooklyn-Bridge family who spent a fortune to save this forest from the saw; the young men of the Depression-era tree army who built these trails by hand and hungry; and the thousand-year-old oaks that were nearly lost and are still standing. Come in the cool months, drive slow with your windows down, and watch for gators — this is Old Florida, still breathing.