Jonathan Dickinson State Park

Jonathan Dickinson State Park is the largest state park on Florida's southeast coast, covering more than 11,500 acres of some of the most ecologically diverse terrain in the state. The Loxahatchee River — one of only two federally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers in Florida — runs through the park, and boat tours up the river to Trapper Nelson's historic homestead remain one of the best wildlife-watching experiences in the area. Manatees, river otters, ospreys, and alligators are regularly seen from the water.

The park has an extensive network of trails through scrub, pine flatwoods, mangrove forest, and river hammock. Canoe and kayak rentals are available for self-guided paddling on the Loxahatchee. The park also operates on-site cabin and tent camping, making it a practical base for spending more than a day in the area. The ecology is unusual for South Florida: this is one of the few places where the northern scrub habitat — characterised by sand pines and scrub oaks — survives in a relatively intact state.

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A story
The park is named for an English Quaker merchant whose ship wrecked on the Jupiter Island coast in 1696. Dickinson and his party — including enslaved people, a Quaker minister, and a Jamaican-born sailor — were captured by the Jobé people and eventually walked north to St. Augustine through wilderness that was then completely uncontacted. Dickinson kept a journal of the experience that became one of the earliest detailed accounts of Florida's interior. The park now covers much of the landscape he walked through.