Spring Hammock Preserve

Spring Hammock Preserve covers about 1500 acres and shelters hydric hammocks, floodplain forests, pine flatwoods, and upland mixed hardwoods. Various hiking and biking trails offer encounters with old-growth oaks, cypress, sweetgums, and magnolias. This preserve protects some of the oldest and most impressive cypress trees still standing in Florida.

Big Tree Park has a wooden walkway that guides you through the flooded hammock and ends up at a tree known as the Senator. The Senator was an impressive old growth Bald Cypress that was utilized as a landmark by Native Americans and early settlers. It is very unfortunate but January of 2012 this tree was killed due to an arsonist, but the remains are still present and admirable.