🌺 Gardens & wildlife

Washington Oaks Gardens State Park

Palm Coast, FL · Northeast Florida

About

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.

Highlights

Formal gardens with reflecting ponds, roses, camellias, and azaleasCoquina rock outcrops and tide pools on the Atlantic beachLive oak hammock draped in Spanish mossCitrus grove from the original Young winter estateMatanzas River frontage with fishing and picnic areas

Getting there

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