Total Audio Length: loading...
Welcome to the audio-described version of Timucuan Preserve's official print brochure. Through text and audio descriptions of photos, illustrations, and maps, this version interprets the two-sided color brochure that Timucuan visitors receive. The brochure explores the history of the park, some of its highlights, and information for planning your visit. This audio version lasts about 40 minutes which we have divided into ten sections, as a way to improve the listening experience. Sections one through six cover the front of the brochure and include information regarding the park history, historic sites and description of the general environments. Sections seven through ten cover the back of the brochure which consists of park maps, information on natural areas, guides to planning your visit and photos of wildlife.
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, located in Northeast Florida, is part of the National Park Service, within the Department of the Interior. The 46,000 acre park is situated within the city limits of Jacksonville, along the Atlantic Ocean. This park, established in 1988, includes Fort Caroline National Memorial and Kingsley Plantation. Each year, thousands of visitors come to enjoy the unique experiences that only can be had at Timucuan Preserve. We invite you to explore the park's history and beauty. Feel the rough tabby slave cabins and connect to the stories of the enslaved. Hear the boom of the cannons at Fort Caroline and listen for the call of shore birds through out the site. For those seeking to learn more about the park during their visit, tactile exhibits at Ribault Club and Cedar Point are available, an award winning audio tour developed with audio description is avaliable at Kingsley Plantation. To find out more about what resources might be available or to contact the park directly, visit the "Accessibility" and "More Information" sections at the end of this audio-described brochure.
A black bar with park name and the NPS arrowhead runs vertically along the left edge of the brochure. Color images of an owl totem, a painting of a Timucuan village and photos of shorebirds frame the left side and the top of this brochure. The body and smaller images are divided into three sections each with a narrow green timeline across the top.
Who were the Timucuan? title with a green timeline showing year 700 a thin white arrow stretches to the right and the year 1698 , Fort de la Caroline green bar timeline has two years much closer together 1564-1569 and Kingsley Plantation has a green timeline bar where further to the right side of the brochure the years 1814 and 1837 have a thing white arrow between them. These subsections each include descriptions of different times in the park's history with supporting images.
Descriptions and text are presented under their own sections.
DESCRIPTION:
A landscape painting of daily Timucuan life in an impressionistic style with subtle greens and blues. Two villages of thatched round huts made from palmetto leaves sit on either side of the river running through the center. Smoke rises from the villages, people move along the shores, and a maritime hammock forest rises up behind them. On the river there are 5 long wooden canoes holding Timucuan men and women in loincloths who are rowing, fishing with nets, and reaching into the river. Oyster beds and salt marshes line the shores with an occasional shore bird perched along the bank or flying up into the sky filled with puffy clouds.
CAPTION:
Artist Richard Schlecht recreates the scene of a Timucua village on the St. Johns River, between 700 and 1500 C.E.
RELATED TEXT:
In and around one of the Atlantic Coast’s largest urban areas, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Pre¬serve offers glimpses of Old Florida in some unexpected places. Explore a fort exhibit that recalls the lives and deaths of French colo¬nists in the 1500s. Walk among live oaks and thickets of palmettos where pre-Columbian and Timucua Indians once lived. Climb a wildlife observation platform overlooking salt marsh habitat. Visit a plantation where enslaved men, women, and children of African descent labored, raised families, worshipped, celebrated, and mourned. Find tranquility in a day at the beach or winding your way by kayak through the marshy expanse.
Established in 1988, this 46,000-acre preserve includes Fort Caroline National Memorial, the Theodore Roosevelt Area, Kingsley Plantation, Cedar Point, and thousands of acres of woods, water, and salt marsh. These diverse natural and human stories come alive where the Nassau and St. Johns rivers flow into the Atlantic Ocean—where the waters meet.
DESCRIPTION:
The Hoontoon Owl stands tall from a single pine log. The carving is in a simple design indicating the suggestion of two ears at the top of the totem, large sunken eyes, a rectangular shaped nose, no indication of a mouth and just the slight impression of wings. The totem is solid wood with no paint or added decoration. Rich wood grain covers it's surface.
CAPTION:
This wooden owl, now on exhibit in the Preserve’s visitor center, is a rare surviving artifact from Florida’s pre-Columbian Indians.
CREDIT:
NPS.
IMAGE 1 of 3: Salt Marsh viewpoint
DESCRIPTION:
Deep blue waters curve and branch along bright green marsh grasses reflecting the grasses in the foreground and the shining sun in the background. The marshes meet large green bushes in the background growing into a maritime hammock forest with a cloudless white sky above.
CAPTION:
The salt marsh viewed from the Theodore Roosevelt Area.
CREDIT:
NPS.
IMAGE 2 of 3: Heron
DESCRIPTION: A heron perches on a branch with one pink leg extended and one bent beneath its wing. The shorebird is a rich blue along it's neck, head and wings, a white belly peeks out beneath the wings. The birds head is in profile with a long blue beak and only one of it's red and black eyes are facing the camera.
Description here
CAPTION:
Tricolored heron.
CREDIT:
Millard H. Sharp.
IMAGE 3 of 3: Stork
DESCRIPTION: A wood storks body and head is pictured with white feathers on it's body meeting at the neck. The neck looks like a branch covered in bark and is gray, brown and black. The wood look continues over the head and the beak extends downward changing from black to red in color.Description here
CAPTION:
Wood stork.
CREDIT:
Arthur Morris / Birds as Art
IMAGE 1 of 3: Timucua Indians 1
DESCRIPTION: A black and white detailed engraving depicting Timucua men with a top knot hairstyle hunting and killing an animal that is meant to be an alligator but has been inaccurately drawn by the European artist. The alligator like creatures are pictured as enormous dinosaur like reptiles that took six Timucua men with exaggerated muscles and no clothing to subdue. The six men hold a giant log sharpened to a point and are charging the creature aimed at it's head. Pictured in a hilly landscape in the background another alligator like creature is lying on it's back with seven Timucua men holding weapons surrounding the animal. Bats, bows and a small knife are held in their attack positions.
Description here
IMAGE 2 of 3: Timucua Indians 2
DESCRIPTION: A detailed black and white engraving of French colonists from the 1500's watching Timucua men engaged in a spiritual ceremony. The Frenchmen stand at the side of the image with a Timucua chief covered in elaborate tattoos pointing toward the ceremony. The men kneel in a circle around a tall post at the center topped with a deer. The Timucua men have top knot hairstyles, small loin clothes, their arms are outstretched and raised and they all have very muscular bodies.
Description here
RELATED TEXT:
French colonist Jacques le Moyne’s sketches of the Timucua Indians gave many Europeans their first views of Native Americans. Le Moyne died in 1587 before his work was completed. A Flemish engraver, Theodore de Bry, finished Le Moyne's illustrations and prepared them for publication. Published around the same time was an account of French life in Florida written by René de Laudonnière, leader of the Fort Caroline settlement.
CREDIT:
Library of Congress.
IMAGE 3 of 3: Oyster Shell
DESCRIPTION:
A photo of a single oyster shell. The shell is inconsistent shades of grey, white and brown. It is narrow on the end and gets wider as if a tear-dropped shaped figure on its side. The edges are jagged and rough.
CAPTION:
Oyster shells, piled in mounds, are visible along the banks of the St. Johns River. The
brochure's main illustration shows a typical shell pile.
RELATED TEXT:
For thousands of years, native people depended on the rich natural resources of the St. Johns estuary. These pre-Columbian people have left clues to their existence; the most easily recognized are the mounds of shells found throughout the preserve. The Indians who made contact with the first European arrivals to the area in the mid-1500s are today known as the Timucua. The term Timucua actually represents a number of cultural traditions that have become defined by a shared language.
The Timucua who settled along the rivers and islands near the Atlantic Ocean took advantage of the waterways for transportation. Using tools made from the storehouse of natural materials, they felled, burned, and scraped tree trunks to make dugout canoes. They hunted and gathered in the forests and marshes, fished, and collected oysters and clams. Dis¬carded shells were piled atop the mounds accumulating from successive generations. It is these ever-present shell mounds that testify to the importance of the water for survival.
The Timucua of this area first encountered Europeans in 1562 when French settlers arrived at the St. Johns River. The Timu¬cua offered food and even helped the strange newcomers build a fort. As with other Florida native peoples, though, they did not long survive contact with Europeans.
Spanish rulers, who had driven out the French, imposed their own culture, including spiritual beliefs through the Spanish mission system. European diseases, to which the Timucua had no immunity, devastated the population. Only 550 Timucua were recorded in 1698, from a population once in the tens of thousands. Today, no known indigenous people call themselves Timucua.
IMAGE 1 of 3: Jean Ribault
DESCRIPTION:
A rectangular image of a line drawing portrait to the left and a fleur fe lis to the right. The black and white line drawn neck-up portrait of Jean Ribault shows a man with a robust neck length bead of dark hair looking to the side in a partial profile. He has dark eyebrows, straight nose and closed smile-less mouth depict a seriousness. His hat is a typical beret like style for men in 1500's France.
CAPTION:
Portrait of Jean Ribault.
CREDIT:
Smith College.
IMAGE 2 of 3: Stone column
DESCRIPTION:
A six sided white stone column that is pictured with the background removed. The base is slightly wider than the column but reflects the same shape. On the flat topped column half way up the side there are two metal shields each only partially pictured. The brown metal shields are elaborately decorated with three fleur de lis on the main shield and a crown on the top.
CAPTION:
Atop St. Johns Bluff, a short drive east of the Preserve visitor center, is a replica of the
stone column erected by Ribault in 1562.
CREDIT:
NPS.
IMAGE 3 of 3: A Conjectural Scene
DESCRIPTION:
A landscape painting in an impressionist style seen from above. The color painting uses a subdued pallet of light brown, green and blues to show the building of Fort Caroline along the St. Johns river with a three masted ship in the middle. Small boats head toward the fort from the ship. The triangular shaped fort is being built along the edge of the river but is surrounded by forest. A wooden wall along the waters edge meets dirt being mounded up to form walls leading to an open spot where a gate will go. People are so small you cannot make out features but they dot the muddy yard around the fort construction.
CAPTION:
A conjectural scene by artist Richard Schlecht shows the building of Fort de la Caroline in 1564.
CREDIT:
NPS / Richard Schlect
RELATED TEXT:
On May 1, 1562, a French voyage of discovery led by Jean Ribault arrived at the mouth of the St. Johns River. After exploring the area the corps erected a stone marker and sailed north. Two years later an expeditionary force led by René de Laudonnière established the first French colony in what is now the United States. They chose a site along the south bank of the river a few miles inland from the mouth. The colonists, mostly Huguenots, named their colony “la Caroline” in honor of King Charles IX. The Timucua helped them build a triangular fort.
Good relations between natives and newcomers were difficult to maintain. Moreover, problems with leadership, homesickness, hunger, and disappointment at not finding material wealth led to discontent among the colonists. In August 1565, just as they were about to abandon their colony, reinforcements led by Jean Ribault came from France.
King Phillip II of Spain, a Catholic, viewed the French as “heretics” and trespassers on Spanish-claimed lands. In September 1565, a force led by Pedro Menéndez de Aviles captured la Caroline and massacred most of its defenders. Though the French recaptured the fort in April 1568, they never again attempted colonization in the area. “La Florida” would remain Spanish for another 200 years. The climactic battles here between the French and the Spanish marked the first time that European nations fought for control of lands in what is now the United States. It would not be the last time.
IMAGE 1 of 4: Sea Island Cotton Plant
DESCRIPTION:
A close up of a photo with the background cut out of a sea island cotton boll, husk and leaves. The fluffy bright white boll at the center is surrounded by a brown husk forming three sharp points, around the husk are three green leaves with ten tiny browning spikes on the end of each leaf. The whole structure is attached to a short stem.
CAPTION:
Sea Island cotton plant growing at Kingsley Plantation.
CREDIT:
NPS.
IMAGE 2 of 4: Tabby Slave Quarters
DESCRIPTION:
Formally enslaved men, women and children are photographed sitting against white tabby cabins that curve in an arch into the photos edge. Each of the four single story buildings has white walls and a wooden shingled roof with a chimney. The front of the cabins have doors and windows but they are not fully in frame. Eight people sit out front of this unclear black and white image, leaning against the walls or sitting in the door frame.CAPTION:
The tabby slave quarters were still occupied when this photograph was made in about the 1870s. Remains of 23 of the cabins stand today; one is restored to its original appearance.
CREDIT:
New York Historical Society.
IMAGE 3 of 4: Production of Sea Island Cotton
DESCRIPTION:
A black and white photo of a posed families of formerly enslaved people. Five children sit in the foreground with one woman in a simple skirt and blouse holding a child's head facing forward. A team of mules are in the mid ground held by a man with a plow in a simple pant and shirt outfit with a dark felt hat. Two women stand nearby in shirts and skirts, one holds a young child in her arms. Behind them are two tabby cabins with white walls and wooden roofs.
CREDIT:
Florida State Archives.
IMAGE 4 of 4: Slave Carrying Cotton
DESCRIPTION:
An impressionist painting cut out around the form of a woman carrying cotton in a basket on her head. The woman is shown in full body facing away from the painter. At the top of her head is a yellow woven basket filled with fluffy white cotton. Her arm holds the basket steady and her head is covered with a red hair wrap, only the side of her rich brown face is shown. A red kerchief hangs in a triangle from her shoulders onto a white bloused shirt. A white apron is tied at her waist where a light blue ankle length shirt hangs to the ground.
CREDIT:
NPS / Richard Schlecht
CAPTION:
Work on the plantation revolved around the production of Sea Island cotton. Fort George Island produced the crop from the 1790s until slaves were freed in the 1860s.
RELATED TEXT:
Fort George Island was isolated and reachable only by boat when Zephaniah Kingsley settled here in 1814. The island already had a well established plantation. Its cash crop was Sea Island cotton, a prized variety with very long fibers suitable for spinning into a fine, strong thread.
Kingsley brought his wife and three children; a fourth child was born here. His wife Anna was from Senegal in West Africa and was purchased as a slave by Kings¬ley in Havana, Cuba. When she and her children were freed in 1811, she acquired land and slaves.
The plantation house was built by slaves and completed in 1798. Nearby in a semicircular arrange¬ment were the cabins of enslaved men, women, and children who labored on the plantation. These thick-walled structures were made of tabby, a mixture of oyster shells, sand, and water. As with other coastal plantations, slave labor was done according to the “task system.” Working without supervision, each slave was assigned a specific amount of work for the day, such as picking one-quarter acre of cotton. Once the task was complete, slaves were expected to use the balance of the day tending to their own family needs.
Under Spanish control, Florida had relatively liberal racial policies. In 1821 Florida became a United States territory and things changed dramatically. To escape the op-pressive laws, Anna, her two sons, and some former slaves moved to Haiti in 1837, where Kingsley had established a free colony. In 1839 he sold Fort George Island to his nephew. Zephaniah Kingsley died in New York City in 1843. Anna returned to Jacksonville, where she lived with her two daughters until her death in 1870.
Side two of the brochure is comprised of text, two maps, and six color photographs. The map which takes up most of the brochure is of the larger area and identifies the park boundaries, highways, roads, coastline, park units, vast waterways, rivers and visitor centers. Small photos in the top right corner highlight different animals found in the park. Beneath the photo text helps with planning and below that another map depicts the main visitor center and Theodore Roosevelt Area hiking trails.
The text, associated maps and photo descriptions are presented under their own sections. In addition to the map and photo descriptions, the text sections provide many descriptive details about what the areas look like and information about getting there and what trails and amenities are available.
SHORT DESCRIPTION:
A color map of Timucuan Preserve nestled next to the Atlantic Ocean. The map shows the full boundary of the park which includes thousands of acres of water ways and wetlands like the St. Johns River, Sisters Creek, Pumpkin Hill Creek, Fort George River, Clapboard Creek and at it's norther border the Nassau River. Highways loop the city of Jacksonville and provide navigation. The map highlights park areas like American Beach on Amelia Island, Cedar Point boat ramp and hiking trails, Ribault Club visitor center, Kingsley Plantation visitor center, Timucuan Preserve visitor center at Fort Caroline National Memorial as well as other area state and city parks.
Much of the map is covered in blue rivers, creeks, marshes and the ocean.
LONG DESCRIPTION:
A color navigational map of the boundary of Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. The green boundary runs along the bottom of the map on the south bank of the St. Johns River around Fort Caroline National Memorial and Theodore Roosevelt Area up a system of water ways and wetlands to islands and marshes stretching over the northeast corner of the city of Jacksonville. The city with it's complex highways system is in the southeastern portion of the map including the title Downtown Jacksonville and the following highways: I-95 running north south through the edge of the map, I-295 running in a loop around the city, Arlington Expressway leading from the downtown over to Atlantic Boulevard which leads to the cities of Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach, Heckschere drive which leads along the northern bank of the St. Johns river from I-95 out toward the ocean as well. Named sites in the Downtown portion of the map include: Jacksonville Zoological Gardens, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge, Yellow Bluff Fort Historic State Park, Mill Cove, Trout River, Broward River, Jacksonville International Airport and Criag Municipal Airport. More roads connect these highways but the roads that lead to the park are Heckshere Drive on the north side of the river and Fort Caroline Road on the south. To the south of the large and curved St. Johns river the park boundary runs next to Naval Station Mayport where the St. Johns River Ferry, a vehicle ferry, crosses at Historic Mayport near the mouth of the river connecting a road named A1A up the coast of Florida. Next to Mayport is Helen Cooper Floyd Memorial Park with canoe and kayak access and Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park with information, picnic facilities and camping. Inland from those parks is a grey square that highlights Fort Caroline National Memorial Theodore Roosevelt Area and the park headquarters. A zoomed in detailed map of this gray square is available elsewhere on this brochure.
To the north of this section is the St. Johns river and a river valley system that extends for thousands of acres. There are no topographical indications of hills or mountains for this is flat area. The creeks that connect within the park to the St. Johns river include from inland: Browns creek, Clapboard creek, Cedar Point creek, Sisters creek. Along Heckshere drive access to these waterways are avaliable from Palms Fish Camp and Sisters Creek Marina. On the northern bank of the St. Johns river is Fort George Island which can be access by Heckshere Drive. The island has a single road leading to a cross roads which loops around so either road will take visitors to Kingsley Plantation on the northern tip of the island. Kingsley Plantation has observation platform and information recreational symbols and the label Kingsley Plantation Visitor center. On Fort George Island, is also Ribault Club with symbols for information and self guided hiking trails. The southeast tip of the island curves in a fish hook shape to form Huguenot Memorial Park with recreational symbols for information, food available, picnic tables, camping canoe and kayak access. To the east of these park areas is the Atlantic Ocean. Going north on the map above Fort George Island are two islands named Talbot Island and Little Talbot Island State Park. The recreational opportunities listed are information, picnic areas, camping, boat ramp, kayak access, and hiking. The state route A1A runs through these parks and northward across the Nassau River where a Fishing bridge runs parallel to the road bridge. This bridge leads to Amelia Island a much larger island than the prior ones listed. Amelia Island runs to the edge of the map and half of the island is not shown. Located on Amelia Island is one last area of the park shown as a small green rounded rectangular shape. This is American Beach the only park property outside of the main boundary. American Beach is located off of Lewis Street.
The northern green boarder of the preserve curves like a sidewinder along the Nassau river heading inland surrounded by marshlands the river shrinking until it meets Thomas Creek. The boarder continues to follow Thomas Creek south then back east along the marshlands. Thomas Creek Area is labeled but is not open to the public other than by kayak.
As you follow the boarder back to the center of the map along the edge in brown another state park is located. Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park is a large brown area along Cedar Point Road. They offer observation platforms, kayaking, hiking and pets on a leash. At the north of Pumpkin Hill also marked in brown is Betz Tiger Point Preserve which offers observation platforms, kayaking, and pets on a leash. Nearby is the last of the park service properties marked in green, Cedar Point. Cedar Point sits along marsh lands and across the intracostal waterway from Fort George Island. Cedar Point offers observation platforms, kayaking, and hiking.
CREDIT:
NPS.
RELATED TEXT:
Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve is operated under a partnership agreement by the Florida State Park System, City of Jacksonville, National Park Service, and over 300 private and corporate landowners.
IMAGE 1 of 6: Roseate spoonbill
DESCRIPTION:
A bright pink feathered shorebird with a light pink coloring up its neck. The distinct spoon shaped bill is long and gray. It's head leans back over it's body so the bill nearly touches the tail feathers. The bird stands on bright pink legs with a green background.
CAPTION:
Roseate spoonbill
CREDIT:
Millard H. Sharp
IMAGE 2 of 6: Painted bunting
DESCRIPTION:
A vividly colored small songbird with a bright red belly, green wings starting in a dark green at the tips and transforming to a bright green where the wings meet the body. The royal blue head leads to a small silver beak and has a small ring of red around a black eye. The bird is posed in profile on a piece of wood against a green background.
CAPTION:
Painted bunting
CREDIT:
Millard H. Sharp
IMAGE 3 of 6: Black-crowned night-heron
DESCRIPTION:
A shorebird perched on green leafy branches. The body is mostly white stretching from the belly up the throat and most of the head. A blue-gray beak juts to a short point and almost meets the red eye. From the eye dark blue-gray feathers cover the back in a narrow strip. One thin white feather curves from the back of the head down to the shoulder.
CAPTION:
Black-crowned night-heron
CREDIT:
Millard H. Sharp
IMAGE 4 of 6: Bobcat
DESCRIPTION:
A brown partially shadowed bobcat balances on a large branch with it's front paws. The mouth is open and eyes look straight at you. The round face has whiskers on each side and two pointed fur covered ears pop out of the photo frame. The back third of the cat is cut off by the frame.
CAPTION:
Bobcat
CREDIT:
Millard H. Sharp
IMAGE 5 of 6: Green tree frog
DESCRIPTION:
A bright green shiny frog with a thin yellow stripe starting at the corner of the mouth and stretching down it's side to where the leg meets the belly. The frog is pictured from above looking down at it's back as the frog turns its up to look toward you.
CAPTION:
Green tree frog
CREDIT:
Millard H. Sharp
IMAGE 6 of 6: Dolphin
DESCRIPTION:
A photograph cut along the outline of a dolphin, whose skin goes from light gray to dark gray on it's back, and lightens to white on the underbelly. The long snout and mouth faces you as the closed mouth curves up giving it almost a smiling look. Flippers jut out from the body and a dorsal fin sits on its back which curves into a tail fin. Although photographed underwater the light from above dots the back of the dolphin.
CAPTION:
Boaters often see dolphins in the channels of the salt marsh.
CREDIT:
Sea World Inc. / Corbis
QUOTE: "People have to work in the cities, they can’t live in the woods anymore. But they ought to have a place in the woods they can go to." — Willie Browne, 1889–1970
RELATED TEXT:
This 600-acre remnant of Old Florida was the only home Willie Browne ever knew. His parents, William Henry and Eliza Browne, moved to Jacksonville from New York City in 1882. Shortly after Willie was born in 1889, they moved to property east of downtown Jacksonville to escape a yellow fever epidemic.
Willie and his younger brother Saxon grew up in a two-story house that overlooked the salt marsh. The boys fished, roamed the vast shell mounds, and explored the ruins of old Confederate gun batteries on St. Johns Bluff. They also tended the family’s cattle, chickens, citrus trees, and vegetable garden.
After their parents moved to another house in the early 1900s, the Browne boys remained on the property. They lived off the land and water—farming, commercial fishing, running a sawmill, and selling oyster shells taken from the ancient Indian shell mounds. Saxon died in 1953. Willie lived by himself in a cabin on the property for the rest of his life—without electricity, indoor plumbing, or many other conveniences.
A strong admirer of President Theodore Roosevelt and his conservation efforts, Browne encouraged the public to use his land as a refuge from the modern world. In 1969 he donated it to the Nature Conservancy. The National Park Service acquired the land in 1990 as part of Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. Willie Browne died in 1970. He is buried in a family cemetery on the property.
The Willie Browne Trail winds through a variety of habitats, including maritime hammocks, scrub vegetation, freshwater swamp, and salt marsh. Passing over a small wooden bridge, the trail leads to the “shell peninsula,” consisting of mounds of oyster shells left over from 1,000 years of pre-Columbian and Timucua Indian habitation.
The salt marsh is a giant food-producer. As such, it attracts abundant wildlife. Birding opportunities abound, especially at the observation platform overlooking Round Marsh. Year-round residents include wood storks, ospreys, great blue herons, belted kingfishers, snowy egrets, and bald eagles. In winter look for kestrels, saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrows, and green -winged teals. Summer brings roseate spoonbills and painted buntings. Get a full list at the visitor center.
You may also spot alligators, otters, dolphins, bobcats, gopher tortoises, marsh rabbits, and a variety of reptiles, including snakes. Along the trail lies the foundation of Willie Browne’s cabin. Exhibit panels nearby tell about his life and legacy.
The visitor center is located at Fort Caroline National Memorial: Follow the Arlington Expy. (Fla. 115) to Atlantic Blvd. (Fla. 10). Turn north on Monu¬ment Road, then east on Fort Caroline Road. The visitor center has a sales and information area and exhibits. A riverside trail leads to the fort exhibit. Open daily 9 am to 5 pm. Preserve sites are closed on Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1.
This area is accessible via a boardwalk trail from Fort Caro¬line or from the parking lot just off Mount Pleasant Road near the preserve headquarters. Open daily 8 am to dusk. There is a picnic table at the parking area. Bicycles are allowed on the Willie Browne Trail only. 904-641-7155.
Located on Fort George Island, just off Florida A1A/105 north of the ferry landing, the site has an information and sales center, and interpretive exhibits are located on the grounds. A trail connects the house complex to the slave quarters. Open daily 9 am to 5 pm. 904-251-3537.
This former 1920s-era golf club is open to the public, with exhibits on the natural and cultural history of Fort George Island. Open Wednesday through Sunday 9 am to 5 pm. Facilities are available for special events for a fee. 904-251-2802.
There are public docks and boat ramps in the preserve (see map). Observe speed limits. Manatees, a protected species, are slow-moving and vulnerable to injury and death by encounters with motorboats.
Good fishing spots are Cedar Point, Little Talbot Island State Park, and throughout the Preserve from small craft. All federal and state licensing and regulations apply.
All plants, animals, cultural arti¬facts, and historic structures are protected by federal law; there are serious penalties for violations. • Much land in the Preserve is privately owned; obey posted signs.
DESCRIPTION:
The purpose of this color map is to provide navigation of park hiking trails and the area around the visitor center located at Fort Caroline. The map indicates the park boundary in green and park property in a light green indicating Fort Caroline National Memorial, Ribault Monument, Spanish Pond, park headquarters, and Theodore Roosevelt Area. A red line represents Monument Road running into the park, past Fort Caroline and up to Ribault Monument. At the Timucuan Preserve Visitor Center picnic tables, information and self-guided trails are marked with recreational symbols. A small black line leads from the Visitor Center to the boat dock then Fort Exhibit. Near the Fort Exhibit is Calypso Island and the St. Johns River. The park boarder runs along Shipyard Creek in that edge of the map. From the fort the yellow Hammock Trail is marked which leads in a loop back to the parking lot and visitor center. Across the Monument Road is Spanish Pond marked with picnic, observation platform and self guided trails recreational symbols. The red Spanish Pond trail leads from this area into the Theodore Roosevelt Area. The Theodore Roosevelt Area is much larger surrounded by Mount Pleasant Road to the west, St. Johns creek to the north, Chicopit Bay and Great Marsh Island to the east. The red trail connects in this area to a green Timucuan trail, black Other trail and blue Willie Browne trail. The green trail runs to the north, the black trail spurs to connect the other trails in three loops. The blue trail leads from a trail head on the south side of the area, adjacent to the park headquarters. The blue Willie Browne trail leads north and forks just as it crosses Hammock Trail, the right fork leads to a observation platform. The scale indicates that the trail system is under three miles long from the trail head to the Spanish Pond site.
CREDIT:
NPS.
ADDRESS:
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
12713 Fort Caroline Road
Jacksonville, FL 32225-1240
PHONE:
904-641-7155
WEBSITE:
www.nps.gov/timu
For those seeking to learn more about the park during their visit, tactile exhibits at Ribault Club and Cedar Point are available, an award winning audio tour developed with audio description is available at Kingsley Plantation. We strive to make our facilities, services, and programs accessible to all. For more information about our services, please ask a ranger, call, or check on our website.