Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail

Rail trail in Florida

29°35′28″N 82°11′21″W / 29.59111°N 82.18917°W / 29.59111; -82.18917Area16-mile (26 km) lengthGoverning bodyFlorida Department of Environmental Protection

Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail is a paved rail trail in Florida.

It is protected as a 16-mile (26 km) long Florida State Park and runs from the City of Gainesville's Boulware Springs Water Works to the town of Hawthorne. It passes through the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and the Lochloosa Wildlife Management Area along a former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad line. The property was purchased by the state of Florida from CSX Transportation with money from the "trails from rails" program in late 1989.^[1] The trail opened for use in January 1992.^[2]

History

At the entrance of Witness Tree Junction, a trailhead along the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, a trio of live oak trees sport carvings demanding notice of Colonel Daniel Newnan and his 100 soldiers' march to capture runaway Black Seminoles during the Patriot War of 1812.^[3] These three trees are also marked by N.R. Gruelle, a surveyor for the Florida Southern Railway (originally the Gainesville, Ocala and Charlotte Harbor Railroad Company), to delineate one end of railroad property.^[3]

Recreational activities

Activities include hiking, running, cycling, rollerblading, and horseback riding. A grassy equestrian pathway is available except east of the Lochloosa trailhead.

Hours and Locations

The Boulware Springs trailhead is located at Boulware Springs Nature Park, 3300 S.E. 15th St, Gainesville, and is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. November through April and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. May through October.

Other trailheads with parking include (1) intersection of county roads 234 and 2082, Rochelle (at Prairie Creek Preserve); (2) 7902 S.E. 200th Drive, off County Road 2082, west of Hawthorne; and (3) 2182 S.E. 71st Avenue, Hawthorne.^[4]

The Paynes Prairie portion of the trail is open from 8 a.m. until sunset, 365 days a year.

References

^ "Parcel: 19801-300-000". Alachua County Property Appraiser. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
^ "Report to Congress: Land and Water Conservation Fund Grants-in-Aid Program". National Park Service. 1986. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Altus, Kristen (March 7, 2019). "Behind The History That Rochelle's Trio Of Giant Trees Have Witnessed". WUFT News. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
^ "Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail". Florida State Parks. Retrieved March 26, 2021.

External links

Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail at Florida State Parks
Friends of the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail
Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail at Absolutely Florida
Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail at Wildernet
Area Overview of Gainesville-Hawthorne Rail Trail at Outdoor Travels
Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail at 100 Florida Trails

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail.

Protected areas of Florida

Federal level

National parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades
National memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline
National monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas
National seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands
National forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola
National wildlife refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands
Other national protected areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries	Apalachicola NERR Florida Keys NMS Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Loxahatchee River Wekiva River

State level

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier–Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef
Botanical garden parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks
Lakes, rivers and springs parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Three Rivers Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Troy Spring Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs
Recreation areas	Dead Lakes Gamble Rogers Memorial
Museums, historic sites, and archaeological sites	Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield DeSoto Site Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater
Preserves and reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Disney Wilderness Estero Bay Green Cay Wetlands Fakahatchee Strand Hal Scott Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Tosohatchee Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh
State trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Jacksonville-Baldwin Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee
State forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Local level

Preserves and reserves	Moccasin Lake

Category
Commons

v t e Greater Gainesville, Florida Area
Gainesville Alachua County Gilchrist County
Government and infrastructure	Alachua County Public Schools Gainesville Police Department Mayor of Gainesville University of Florida Police Department headquarters UF Health Shands Hospital
Cityscape and cultural centers	A. Quinn Jones House Alachua County Library District Boulware Springs Water Works Civic Media Center Dove World Outreach Center Haile Plantation Hawthorne Historical Museum and Cultural Center National Register of Historic Places listings Northeast Gainesville Residential District Plaza of the Americas Pleasant Street Historic District Shady Grove Primitive Baptist Church Southeast Gainesville Residential District The Hub Thomas Center University Auditorium University of Florida buildings University of Florida Campus Historic District
Colleges and universities	City College Florida Gateway College Santa Fe College University of Florida
Parks and recreation	Bivens Arm Depot Park Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park Dudley Farm Historic State Park Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail Haile Homestead Ichetucknee Springs State Park Kanapaha Botanical Gardens Lake Alice Lake Santa Fe Lake Wauburg Lochloosa Lake Lubee Bat Conservancy Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park Morningside Nature Center Newnans Lake Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo Turkey Creek Preserve
Attractions and festivals	34th Street Wall Alfred A. McKethan Stadium Archer Historical Society Museum Baughman Center Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Butler Plaza Cade Museum Century Tower Constans Theatre Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Florida Museum of Natural History Gainesville Raceway Gator Growl Gator Trails Hippodrome State Theatre J. Wayne Reitz Union James G. Pressly Stadium Kika Silva Pla Planetarium Matheson History Museum Matheson House Micanopy Historical Society Museum Mildred's Big City Food O'Connell Center Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art Satchel's Pizza The Fest The Oaks Mall
Transportation	Amtrak Thruway Gainesville Regional Airport Gainesville Regional Transit System Helyx Bridge Old Gainesville Depot