Wild Oranges & Persimmon Trees - Enticing Oak & Palm Hammock Nature Walk Merritt Island, Florida

Описание: The Oak Hammock Trail starts to the right of the kiosk for the Hammock Trails. Beneath the tall oaks, sword ferns crowd densely along the trail.
Citrus trees grow wild here, a remnant of a homestead from the 1940s. Captain Douglas Dummitt established the very first citrus grove in America not far north of here in 1807.
The homestead here belonged to the Dannenberg family between 1947 and 1964, and they grew gladiolas and oranges until the Space Center came along. Then they ran a mobile home park on this site until they were bought out during the formation of this refuge.
Enticing walk into the woods through a thicket of ferns under the shade of live oaks & palms the trail at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is a delight. It provides an easy introduction to one of the most pleasant habitats at the north end of the island, the hammock. An interpretive trail, much of it is a boardwalk above the sometimes-soggy forest floor and don't forget to watch the understory carefully, as there have been spotting of armadillos roaming around these woods.
Location: Titusville
Length: palm 0.5 mile loop & oak 2 mile loop
Fees: Free
Restroom: None here, but the Visitor Center is nearby
Land manager: Merritt Island NWR
Phone: 321-861-0669
Open dawn to dusk. Expect mosquitoes: use bug spray.
While much of the trail is on boardwalks, it is not wheelchair accessible due to the need to cross a railroad track in route to the boardwalk.