Louise Powis Young laid out these formal gardens in the 1930s on her winter estate, and the state has kept them in her hands' image: brick paths winding past reflecting ponds, rose beds, camellias, azaleas, and a citrus grove under a canopy of live oaks hung with Spanish moss. Cross A1A and the park's other face appears, a stretch of Atlantic shore where dark coquina rock ledges break the surf and fill with tide pools at low water. Between the two sits the Matanzas River, with short trails, fishing, and picnic tables under the hammock.
Gardens & wildlife
Gardens & wildlife
Gardens & wildlifeCurated guides that feature Washington Oaks Gardens State Park.
26 placesFlorida's park service runs about 175 state parks, and these are the ones worth planning a trip around. Wild barrier islands and sugar-sand beaches, deep springs and dark caverns, 19th-century forts and prairies where bison still roam, from the Panhandle's emerald coast to the coral reefs of the Keys. The definitive short list, not the whole directory.
14 placesThe Atlantic coast keeps its wild stretches tucked between the beach towns: undeveloped barrier islands, a national seashore, and refuge shores where sea turtles still outnumber people. Walk past the last parking lot at Canaveral and the crowds vanish; wander Big Talbot's boneyard beach where storm-felled oaks bleach white in the surf. No high-rise wall, no boardwalk, just dunes, driftwood, and open ocean. Bring water and shade, and leave South Beach to everyone else.
