Princess Place Preserve near Palm Coast FL…

We haven’t done a whole lot the past few days since I was instructed to be somewhat inactive after having minor surgery on Tuesday. I am already getting pretty tired of this inactivity stuff. One can only read so many books and watch so much TV before going a little stir crazy. We did get a little hiking in at a nearby park that is worthy of mentioning though.

Pellicer Creek Conservation Area is a State Preserve under the jurisdiction of the St Johns River Water Management District. This preserve is over 3,500 acres in size and is only minutes away from our RV park. This property has water features from Pellicer Creek, the same one I kayaked on, and the Matanzas River. It also shares a common boundary and miles of trails with the 1,500 acre Princess Place Preserve. So there's plenty of hiking and boating in this area.

The Princess Place Preserve has a lodge that was built by Henry Cutting and was also an estate that once was home to a Russian princess! The lodge remains at Princess Place and was originally built in 1887 in what is called the Adirondack Camp Style. The lodge itself is very interesting and most of the materials used to construct the building are from Florida not the Adirondacks. Some of its unique building materials include the pink coquina walls and porch supports made from red cedar posts and palm tree trunks… cool!!! Yep this park and the lodge too are a slice out of old Florida…

Also at Princess Place is Florida's first in-ground pool, where it is said that the rich and royal frolicked in its spring-fed 72-degree water. As can be seen from my photo it is now only a shadow of its former elegance. The old bath houses are mostly still standing and the park hopes that someday funds will be available to restore it to its past glory. 

    

We saw lots of nice trails there and  some were even all concrete for those physically challenged. The vegetation was a mix of maples, palm trees and mammoth, centuries old and Spanish moss draped live oaks. Really beautiful for hiking…

Today we are leaving Pellicer Creek Campground and heading over toward Tampa where we will stay a week at the Horseshoe Cove RV Resort in Bradenton, Florida before making our final winter stop in Bonita Springs.