Neal Preserve — Attraction in Bradenton

-No Dogs Allowed A bit underwhelming especially considering the amazing nearby preserves available. We had never been and decided to see what it had because we frequent other natural preserves near us. We probably won't go back.. it's very small and having the noise from Manatee ave traffic doesn't allow for you to feel like your in nature. It has sand/shell trails and some boardwalk as well. The boardwalk areas definitely need work as we saw(and nearly missed) several holes and chunks missing from the wooden planks. You can tell that this place has not been cared for in a very long time. It's sad to see a preserve like this. Most of the signs showing specific trees or plants didn't actually have those trees or plants there to view which is not typical of a preserve. After all that's why they have the signage.. Overall as local lifetime floridians we were very disappointed in the lack of care and size of this location. I can only hope that the future shows something more...

I discovered this park as I was driving through West Bradenton and stopped for a while. There is a very nice, newly built picnic area where I ate lunch and completed some paperwork. There are walking trails, which I did not explore this time, but I saw families and people walking their dogs who seemed to be enjoying themselves. There was road noise as it was on the road, but there were ponds and lots of birds present. If I am in the area again, I will definitely explore the walking trails. With it being migration season, I identified a couple birds uncommon...

A small natural area with extensive boardwalks throughout. There is a lookout tower overlooking Sarasota Bay and the surrounding area.

Neal preserve is a large prehistoric complex that consisted of shell middens and burial grounds between 3000BC and 1000AD. There are remnants of the mounds throughout.

There is wildlife here and you may see eagles and other birds of prey. A very nice area for a 30 minute walk.

There is a small parking lot. ...