Highlands Hammock State Park is a 9000 acres (3,642.2 ha) park 4 miles (6 km) west of Sebring

Sebring, Florida

Sebring is a city in Highlands County, Florida, United States, nicknamed "The City on the Circle", in reference to Circle Drive, the center of the Sebring Downtown Historic District...

 in Highlands County, Florida

Highlands County, Florida

Highlands County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the population was 97,346. Its county seat is Sebring, Florida. The county comprises the Sebring, Florida, Micropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...

, off U.S. 27

U.S. Route 27

U.S. Route 27 is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus is at US 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 in Fort Wayne, Indiana...

. The park opened in 1931, four years before the Florida state park system was created.

Flora

Elevated boardwalk

Boardwalk

A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....

s meander through an old-growth

Old growth forest

An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

 bald cypress

Taxodium distichum

Taxodium distichum is a species of conifer native to the southeastern United States.-Characteristics:...

 swamp

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...

 with Cabbage Palmetto

Sabal palmetto

Sabal palmetto, also known as cabbage palm, palmetto, cabbage palmetto, palmetto palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, swamp cabbage and sabal palm, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm . It is native to the southeastern United States, Cuba, and the Bahamas...

s, fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

s, bromeliads, orchids and other epiphyte

Epiphyte

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...

s. Some trees are believed to be over a thousand years old, and one is possibly the largest oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

 in Florida, with a girth of over 36 feet (11 m) .

Fauna

White-tailed deer

White-tailed Deer

The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...

, American Alligator

American Alligator

The American alligator , sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator, is a reptile endemic only to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two living species of alligator, in the genus Alligator, within the family Alligatoridae...

s, gopher tortoises

Gopherus polyphemus

The gopher tortoise is a species of the Gopherus genus native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for 360 other animal species...

, frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

s, otter

Otter

The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....

s, golden silk spiders

Nephila clavipes

Nephila clavipes is a species of golden orb-web spider. It lives in the warmer regions of the Americas. The large size and bright colours of the species make it distinctive...

, Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

The Pileated Woodpecker is a very large North American woodpecker, almost crow-sized, inhabiting deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific coast. It is also the largest woodpecker in America.Adults are long, and weigh...

s, Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

The Red-shouldered Hawk is a medium-sized hawk. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico.-Description:...

s, Barred Owl

Barred Owl

The Barred Owl is a large typical owl. It goes by many other names, including eight hooter, rain owl, wood owl, and striped owl, but is probably best known as the hoot owl.-Description:...

s and Florida Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay

The Florida Scrub-Jay is one of the species of scrub-jay native to North America. It is the only species of bird endemic to the U.S. state of Florida. Because of this, it is heavily sought by birders who travel from across the country to observe this unique species...

s are common in the park. Florida Black Bear

American black bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

s, Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

s, White Ibis

American White Ibis

The American White Ibis is a species of wading bird in the ibis family Threskiornithidae. It occurs from the mid-Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States south through most of the New World tropics...

, Bobcat

Bobcat

The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...

s and the rare Florida panther

Florida Panther

The Florida panther is an endangered subspecies of cougar that lives in forests and swamps of southern Florida in the United States. Its current taxonomic status is unresolved, but recent genetic research alone does not alter the legal conservation status...

 are seen on occasion.

History

Local citizens, concerned about plans to turn the hammock

Hammock (ecology)

Hammocks are dense stands of hardwood trees that grow on natural rises of only a few inches higher than surrounding marshland that is otherwise too wet to support them. Hammocks are distinctive in that they are formed gradually over thousands of years rising in a wet area through the deposits of...

 into farmland, acquired the property in 1931 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.

Though it never reached national park status, it became one of the four original Florida State Parks when the state park system was created in 1935. The Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...

 (CCC), established during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, built a camp at Highlands Hammock as a headquarters, and developed additional park facilities and the beginnings of a botanical garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

.

Florida Civilian Conservation Corps Museum

The park features the Florida Civilian Conservation Corps Museum with interactive exhibits about the 1930-1940s period of the park's construction, and the history of the CCC in Florida and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The museum is located in a building constructed by the CCC.

Recreational activities

The park includes a scenic three-mile (5 km) loop drive that gives access to the park's nine trails, and can be used for inline skating

Inline skating

Inline skating is a recreational sport practiced widely internationally. Inline skates typically have 2 to 5 polyurethane wheels, arranged in a single line. The in-line design allows for greater speed than roller skates and better maneuverability...

. An eleven-mile (18 km) trail can be traversed by bicyclists, horseback riders or wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....

 viewers. Birding may also be done, since the park is part of the Great Florida Birding Trail

Great Florida Birding Trail

The 2000 mile long Great Florida Birding Trail is a collection of more than 400 locations in the U.S. state of Florida...

. Ranger-guided tours are scheduled frequently.

There is a campground with full hookups, and an areas for full, primitive and youth camping

Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...

. A picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...

king area is available with an adjacent playground

Playground

A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...

, as well as a restaurant, called "The Hammock Inn". During the fall and winter season the Friends of Highlands Hammock sponsor a Music in the Park Concert series the third saturday of the month.