Little Talbot State Park
A couple weeks ago when I realized I had not spent a lot of time in Jacksonville for a few road trips I headed that way.
This is just one of seven parks in the Jacksonville area that jointly contain Talbot Islands State Parks. The others — Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park, Amelia Island State Park , Fort George Island Cultural State Park, Yellow Bluff Fort Historic State Park, Big Talbot Island State Park, and the George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier State Park — are the others.
There’s camping here and kayaking and in the event that you want to book a picnic pavilion you should call them.
However, if you’re just traveling make it a point to come here and see exactly how wonderful Florida’s shore can be.
If you are driving north on A1A, you will probably use the Mayport ferry to get to the opposite coast. If you’re heading east from Jacksonville you’ll arrive on Hecksher Drive. When you find the park entrance on your right of the drive on A1A. With five miles of maintained coastline at your feet this is one of the most popular stretches of beach in Florida.
For such an area I discovered there are plenty of off-the-beaten-paths and bike paths especially with an off-road bike.
Regardless of the amount of folks there it never looked as though the beach was crowded. Not whatsoever. Instead, it reminded me of those days in the 1970s when my family could travel to enjoy a day to the shore when it seemed as if it were our very own private beach.
Jacksonville FL Little Talbot Island State Park
On the Saturday I visited there was plenty of parking and I discovered a wide bicycle path connecting the park’s southern and northern ends. The picnic pavilions were full of groups of friends and family reunions and classmates enjoying a break from school.
Best of all to get the beach along pathways between the pavilions and changing areas all the way over the dunes and down to the shoreline, there’s a broad buffer of vegetation keeping the beach close to a natural state. It really feels as if this is the way “Old Florida” used to look. It’s hard to believe you’re just a dozen miles or so from downtown Jacksonville yet it feels like you’re in a very remote area.
State Park info provided by Independent Painting.