Highlands Hammock

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Highlands Hammock State Park

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Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, March 27, 2014

1. Highlands Hammock Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by Andrew Waber, 2/2018:
Highlands Hammock State Park and Florida Botanical Gardens and Arboretum is significant at the state and local levels in the areas of Conservation, Entertainment and Recreation, Social History, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture. Originally known as Hooker Hammock, the park was the result of one of the earliest local grassroots conservation efforts in the state, which began in 1928. Highlands Hammock State Park was one of the first state parks created in the state of Florida and is one of the original units of the Florida Park Service.

The actual development of the original

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, March 27, 2014

2. Highlands Hammock Marker

core of the park began in 1930 as a privately run park financed primarily by John and Margaret Shippen Roebling. With its special emphasis on labor intensive techniques for the express purpose of providing employment, this park was an important job creating project that predated similar federal programs started several years later.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) first came into the area in 1934 for the purpose of constructing the Florida Botanical Gardens and Arboretum (FGBA). The project was abandoned after World War II, however, and after the war, the area was repurposed into campgrounds. For many years, starting in 1931, the park hosted annual Vesper services in the amphitheater, which was constructed for this purpose. The park has also hosted community organizations, including the Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts.

The park is also significant in the areas of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The buildings, fences, bridges, and other structures are locally significant examples of Rustic architecture. This is best embodied in the rough-hewn stone, wood shingle siding, and usage of locally sourced materials to blend into the natural surroundings. The original Roebling era park is a locally significant example of a naturalistic park, with its unpaved, narrow twisting trails and roads; minimum building intrusion; and incorporation of native, non-exotic plants and

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, March 27, 2014

3. Highlands Hammock Marker

Looking north from Park Loop Drive.

naturalistic scenery.

The park is also an important work of a master landscape architect, Charles Raymond Vinten. Originally brought in to work on the Roebling park, Vinten returned to oversee the park during the CCC era. It was his work with Highlands Hammock that led to his promotion to state inspector of the National Park Service in Florida. In addition to overseeing and approving the design of all 7 CCC constructed state parks in Florida, Vinten would also have an impact upon other NPS projects in the state, including Everglades National Park.

Excerpt:  During the latter part of 1929, a movement was initiated to have the Hammock designated as a national park. The acreage was inspected by federal officials in February 1930 and deemed too small.

The efforts that followed to establish the land as a local park caught the attention of Margaret Shippen Roebling, who donated $25,000 to purchase the land and later contributed another $25,000, with the condition that the community raise $5,000 to show its commitment. Area residents rose to the occasion, and contributions ranged from

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one dollar to $1,000, a sacrifice in the hard times of the Depression.

The property, which consisted of 550 acres of the Hammock proper and an additional 1,500 acres, was acquired in 1930. After Mrs. Roebling’s untimely death in October 1930, her husband, John A. Roebling II, scion of the builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, made the commitment to complete the park as a memorial to his late wife. Some of the original trails and facilities were constructed in 1931. An official dedication of Highlands Hammock was held in March 1931, and the park was opened to the public.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of President Franklin Roosevelt's most successful New Deal era programs. Two CCC companies, one established in 1934 and the other in 1936, continued Roebling’s efforts to finish the park’s trails, pavilions and infrastructure and to create the Florida Botanical Gardens and Arboretum.

Highlands Hammock State Park was officially opened as Florida’s first state park in August 1935. It is one of eight original CCC parks in Florida. Highlands Hammock State Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 16, 2018.

Excerpt:  Local citizens, concerned about plans to turn the hammock into farmland, asked the Skipper family for 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 Margaret Roebling, daughter-in-law of Washington 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 (CCC), established during the Great Depression, built a camp at Highlands Hammock as a headquarters, and developed additional park facilities and the beginnings of a botanical garden. Part of the natural area is old-growth forest and recognized by the Old-Growth Forest Network.