Oak Creek Nature Preserve and Park

Located 5 miles east of Hawthorne on FL State Road 20, William Bartram discovered the area in his travels 250 years ago and Orange Creek wilderness is preserved as he described it in his journals. Following Bartram’s visit, a frontier settlement of farmers and loggers developed here but only abandoned graves are a legacy of these pioneers’ lives and deaths. The park features ancient live oaks, Orange Creek and its wetlands and marshes and Florida wilderness trails once hiked by Bartram himself.