Preserving Florida's First History

Approximate time: 4 hours

Nestled between northeast Florida's lower St. Johns and Nassau Rivers the 46,000-acre Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve was created in 1988 to preserve important wetlands, historic and prehistoric sites. It encompasses a variety of precious and cultural resources. The name is from the Timucuan Indians who lived in northeast Florida for millennia before European explorers arrived. Only a century later their culture had nearly vanished. Today, a number of Timucuan artifacts are displayed at Fort Caroline National Memorial, (located off Ft. Caroline Road) headquarters of the Preserve.

Fort Caroline commemorates the French Huguenot Colony of "La Caroline" built in 1564-65 and settled by Rene de Laudonniere. Theory suggests that the original site of "La Caroline" was washed away after the river channel was deepened and widened in the 1880s. The fort reconstruction is based upon a 16th-century sketch by Jacques le Moyne, the colony's artist and mapmaker.

Atop St. Johns Bluff just a short distance from Fort Caroline stands the Ribault Monument. It is a replica of a stone column carved with the coat of arms of the King of France and originally placed at the mouth of the St. Johns River by Jean Ribault in 1562. Today the site offers a spectacular view of the St. Johns River.

The Theodore Roosevelt Area (main entrance off Mt. Pleasant Road) preserves over 500 acres of a vast wilderness that once lined the lower St. Johns River. Hiking trails wind through several distinct ecological communities that contain a variety of common and rare plants and animals.

Take Ft. Caroline Road to 9A, north across the Dames Point Bridge (also known as the Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge). Construction on this "bridge to nowhere" began in 1985, and it opened March 1989. A final historical site stands at the foot of this bridge, off New Berlin Road. Yellow Bluff Fort was constructed in 1862 by Confederate troops to prevent Union gunboats from advancing on Jacksonville during the Civil War. It was really only a series of trenches and earthworks for protection of its guns. Utilized alternately by both Confederate and Union forces, this fortification did not see extensive action during the war. Crossing the span of the picturesque suspension bridge, the journey through historic northeast Florida concludes.