Seasons: Old Florida, New to Us

Between Crescent Beach, on the southern end of Anastasia Island and Palm Coast is a section of A1A that is sort of lost in time. The first time I drove down there from St. Augustine Beach with Sarah and Paul we turned off at the first road that said "Old A1A" only to end up on a dead end road with a few houses that, I guess, were pretty close to the ICW.

A dirt road it was, that I suppose was "Old A1A". It was beautiful, with live oaks and spanish moss, typical of Old Florida. After going back out to "new" A1A we headed south again and shortly came to a state park named Washington Oaks Gardens. This section of A1A is paved but you still get a feel for what it must have been like years ago. It's only about a mile long....

Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia site from the link above:

The park's land has a rich history. Native Americans found the area a productive hunting and fishing area. After European settlement of Florida, the property had a number of owners and was used for various agricultural purposes. One owner was a surveyor named George Washington, a relative of President George Washington. In 1936, Louise Powis Clark, wife of the industrialist Owen D. Young purchased the property as a winter retirement home. She devised the name "Washington Oaks" for the property and is responsible for developing the park's formal gardens, citrus groves, and house. Mr. Young died in 1962 and Mrs. Young donated the property to the State of Florida in 1964. Her donation specified that the "gardens be maintained in their present form".

By the way, if you click on the pictures you get a full-sized version of them.

The orange and grapefruit trees were hanging full

on this beautiful January day and the fruit was ripening. We managed to find some that was ripe (after tasting some that were not quite) and I have to say it was very good, especially a pink grapefruit we ate fresh from the tree.

Across A1A from the entrance to the main part of the park is another section on the ocean side. There you will find a coquina beach. Coquina was the standard building material in the area back in the day and is still used in various forms even today. Coquina is different from Tabby, which is more prevelant on the Georgia coast but there is some Tabby in St. Augustine at the Fountain of Youth.