Nature Break at Historic Bulow Plantation

A place that whispers like an empty cathedral

Are you ready to trade the exhilaration of the coast for a place that whispers like an empty cathedral? You’ll start unwinding as soon as you turn into the narrow road leading back to the 150-acre Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park. Surrounded by towering pines, you are traveling the original hard packed road built by the British family that owned the plantation.

Who would expect that a couple of hours from Orlando you could escape to a natural hammock of dense woods and ancient oak trees eerily dripping with Spanish moss?

The interpretive center has displays to answer your questions about the remains of the plantation house and the slave cabins. Short trails through the pines lead to a unique spring house and the quiet site of the monolithic remains of the sugar mill. Illuminated by sun filtering through the trees, you might get a sense of what it was like to live here in the early 1800s.

Rather keep up your fitness routine? A 6.8 mile hiking trail runs from here to the Fairchild Oak in Bulow Creek State Park. It’s used by mountain bikers too, but can have muddy sections during rainy periods. Always carry plenty of water and mosquito repellant during warm weather.

For those who love to paddle rather than peddle, rent a canoe for an early morning trip on Bulow Creek when wildlife sightings are common.

Since any good nature break revs up your appetite, there is a shady picnic area with grills overlooking the creek—a perfect finish for what may rank as the most unique day trip of your vacation.

Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park:

Open Thursday through Monday; 8:30 a.m. to sunset.

Old Kings Road, Flagler Beach

Directions: From Ormond Beach (or Exit # 278 on I-95), the park is located approximately 3 miles north of Old Dixie Highway on Old Kings Road (County Road 2001).

Information: 386-517-2084

or visit www.floridastateparks.org/bulowplantation