Trails and Park Offerings

The Lehigh Trail follows a disused railway line for about eight miles through downtown Palm Coast. It is suitable for hiking, cycling, and inline skating. For planning an outing, it brings together an approximate distance, a route through downtown, and several ways to get active. You can decide whether the trail, with its former railway line, suits your stay as an activity in its own right. The parks offer different options: Long Creek Nature Preserve has walking paths, while Linear Park has hiking trails.

Long Creek Nature Preserve offers access to fishing. For walking, there are paths with compacted crushed shell and raised wooden boardwalks. This lets you plan your visit around the focus you want: walking paths and fishing access are two different offerings at the same preserve. The types of paths give the walk a particular character, while fishing access makes the area relevant to another interest as well.

Linear Park has hiking trails. The Audubon Society has also designated the park as a Great Florida Birding Trail. The StoryWalk® consists of twenty kiosks along a half-mile route that follows the path to the St. Joe Walkway. The kiosks give the park a distinctive offering alongside its hiking trails. If you are mainly coming for the story being presented, check its details before your visit.

Nature by the Water

Waterfront Park combines a fishing pier with a trail and a transition between habitats. Visitors often see manatees and dolphins on the Intracoastal Waterway Trail at the park. At the same time, coastal scrub transitions there into a pine and hardwood forest habitat. If wildlife viewing is a priority when choosing an outing, the trail offers a specific place to start; the transition between habitats also reveals another side of the park.

For a practical comparison between Long Creek Nature Preserve and Waterfront Park, Long Creek offers fishing access and walking paths, while Waterfront Park has a fishing pier and a trail where manatees and dolphins are often spotted. This lets you weigh whether walking paths or wildlife viewing should be more central to your visit.

Traces of History

The historical connections also take different forms. Hernandez Landing Site in Long Creek Nature Preserve dates back to Florida’s plantation era in the early 19th century and is an archaeological site. In James F. Holland Memorial Park, a playground is modeled on the Bulow Plantation Sugar Mill. Long Creek is therefore home to an archaeological site with a specific historical period, while Holland Park features a design inspired by a historical landmark. These differences help you distinguish historical sites from historical themes in park offerings.

Discover more destinations: Marineland, Flagler Beach.

For the main travel overview: Flagler.