Collier-Seminole State Park

About Collier-Seminole State Park

The King Palm is rare elsewhere, but it is a common tree in Florida, and the park has a large number of them as well as a variety of other species.

Built in 1924, it was used as part of the Tampa - Miami Expressway, the first in a series of railroad lines built to connect Tampa to Miami. The park also houses a number of hiking trails, a variety of waterfalls and some other natural features.

Hiking, biking and canoeing trails offer visitors the opportunity to explore the park's remarkable wilderness. The park has a boat ramp that provides access to the Blackwater River, where anglers can fish both freshwater and saltwater.

The picnic area has gazebos and barbecues, which can be used on a first - come - first basis. Campers can stay in fully equipped campsites, and there are also youth groups and primitive campsites.
Parking concessions were granted, such as hot dogs, hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and other snacks.

Collier - Seminole State Park takes its name from two people who shaped and changed our country forever. Barron Collier was a wealthy entrepreneur who financed the construction of the Tamiami Trail and bought the land for the Seminoles and Miccosukee Indians who lived in the area in the early 19th century. Since then, the two have been intertwined through the history of the area through the Tamiami Path. It is located on the east side of Lake Okeechobee, north of Fort Myers, Florida.

The park also includes mangroves and salt marshes, which are the preferred habitat for waders, and extends over tens of thousands of islands. Collier - Seminole State Park includes what is historically known as the royal palm hammock. The three original Royal Palms in Florida, which resemble the coastal forests of the West Indies and Yucatan, are native to the park.

The Seminoles (Miccosukee Indians) settled in the area in the 1840s and have stayed here ever since. The visitor center in the park is modeled after a log cabin from the Seminole War. Attempts by the army to drive them out failed, making them known as the Undefeated.

At the beginning of the 20th century, an attempt was made to build a state park with a visitor centre and other facilities for the Seminole population. These efforts began and ended with the loss of funds needed elsewhere, such as the construction of a bridge over Tallahassee, but not before the effort had begun.

In the 1920s, the State of Florida asked for funds to finance and complete the construction of the Tamiami Trail. The Naples-Miami road bed was finally completed in 1928, and it was a monumental engineering feat to build it. Florida's pioneering developer William H. Dyer Jr. and his wife, Mary Ann, completed construction in the early 1930s in partnership with Florida's Department of Transportation.

The park houses the Bay City Walking Bagdge, which was used for the construction of the road that now leads through the front entrance of the park.

The Tamiami Trail, which Collier built, had a lasting impact on the Indians of the area and was declared a monument to historical engineering in 1994. The streets of the Colliers exposed the once isolated Seminoles to the rest of Florida and the world. Along the way, outside the park, there are many villages where people maintain their balance between modern society and traditional life.

In Tamiami, Barron Collier had plans to develop Lincoln Lee National Park, but he could not get government support for his idea. The Tamiami Trail was built as part of a larger plan for a national park in the Florida Panhandle, and he built it.

In 1947, the land was transferred to the State of Florida under the administration of a state park and became a landscape park. Collier - The Seminole State Park, named in part after the Seminoles Indians who made the area around it their home, is now a national park with a rich history of the historic people who shaped the landscape and people of Colliers County, Florida. It is open all year round, but reservations can be made eleven months in advance.

For more information about camping in the park, click on the Reserve America link below or click on the Reserve America link. Click on the icon to see a detailed description of your campsite and its facilities. You can also see the maps of each campsite and its locations by clicking on a parking map and selecting one of the links to the parking maps of the campsite. A one night deposit is required and only credit cards must be cancelled in advance, with no deposit more than $5 per night or $10 per day per person required.

There are primitive campsites, canoes and hiking trails, but campers can experience real amenities. Check availability at the ranger station for more information about camping at Collier - Seminole State Park or contact the park office at (904) 662-5555.

The park has two campsites, and one area is popular for tents, vans and pop-ups, and includes 19 locations in wooded areas. The other one consists of two pitches, one on the west side of the park and the other on the east side. Both pitches have electricity and picnic tables and barbecues, but both areas also include a campsite.

Three bathhouses are located near the campsites and are equipped with hot and cold showers, and one bathhouse has a washing machine and dryer. One of them has an indoor / outdoor shower with whirlpool, shower cabin and bathtub, as well as a toilet.

The park has two adult campsites, a primitive camp and a youth camp site, and the area around the youth camp can be reserved. The primitive camps are initially managed by the Florida Department of Natural Resources and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and there is a youth camp.

The area around the youth camp is primitive and requires a footpath for food and water to the grounds and showers - only privileges are not available.

A boat ramp provides access to the river and a short walk along the coast to a small beach. A boat trip downstream is possible with a concessionaire, but there are no boat ramps in this park.

A 13.6-kilometre canoe trail leads through the park, which leads from the car park to a pavilion on the south side of the river. The pavilions are limited according to the principle of "first come, first served" and open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.

In the interpretation centre of the park, other plant and animal exhibits can be visited, and there are also self-guided nature trails and a salt marsh path. The 6.5-kilometre-long trail allows visitors to observe the great diversity of the park's vegetation and wildlife.

In Fort Lauderdale, take Exit 80 (SR 29) and travel south on 41, turn right and follow 41 for approximately 15 miles, then turn left at the entrance to Collier - Seminole State Park, which is on the left. In Tampa, take 75 north and take the exit on the west side of Interstate 95 / I-75 and turn right. From Tampa, take 75 to St. Petersburg, follow this road to the right and then turn left onto Interstate 75 at Exit 40, south of St. Petersburg and north of Fort Myers.