O'Leno State Park

State park in Florida, United States

29°55′01″N 82°35′02″W / 29.91694°N 82.58389°W / 29.91694; -82.58389Governing bodyFlorida Department of Environmental Protection

O'Leno State Park is a Florida State Park located on the Santa Fe River six miles north of High Springs on U.S. 441. Many facilities at the park were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

History

A town called Keno, also the name of a lotto gambling game, was once at the location of the park. There was a cotton gin and a sawmill there. In 1876, ministers and businessmen moved to change the name to Leno to improve the town's reputation. The current name refers to "Old Leno". After the railroad bypassed the town, it became a ghost town.^[1]^[2]

Geology

The park is made up of sinkholes, hardwood hammocks, river swamps, and sandhills. The Santa Fe River runs through the park, disappearing into a sinkhole and re-appearing approximately 3.5 miles away at River Rise Preserve State Park, forming a natural land bridge. At one time, the historic Bellamy Road ran across this land bridge.

Fauna

Among the wildlife of the park are white-tailed deer, squirrel, alligators, turtles, raccoons and gopher tortoises.

Recreational activities

Amenities include a more than 13 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails, picnic pavilions, and a full-facility campground which includes family, primitive, youth and group camping.

Hours

O'Leno State Park is open between 8 a.m. and sundown every day of the year (including holidays).

Gallery

Picnic shelter built by the CCC
CCC-built recreation hall
Suspension footbridge, also CCC-built
One of many sinkholes in the park
Leno, Florida marker

References

^ Harmon, G.L.; McCarthy, K.M. (1992). The Book Lover's Guide to Florida. G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Pineapple Press. p. 381. ISBN 978-1-56164-012-6. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
^ Waitley, D. (2013). Best Backroads of Florida: Beaches and Hills. Best Backroads of Florida. Pineapple Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-56164-656-2. Retrieved May 28, 2020.

External links

Media related to O'Leno State Park at Wikimedia Commons

O'Leno State Park at Florida State Parks

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