Zeus Park — Attraction in Jupiter Island

While driving through Hobe Sound I discovered this unusually named park. Hobe Sound's connection to the Greek myths goes back to the 1920's during Florida's land boom years. In 1924 the Olympia Improvement Corp. intended to develop Hobe Sound into a movie production town similar to Hollywood, CA. Investors were recruited and Greek named streets like Olympus, Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Adonis, Mercury, and Mars were constructed. The intention was that Hobe Sound would have its name changed to Olympia and there would be a section called Picture City for development of the movie industry. Before Olympia could really get off the ground, the hurricanes of 1926 and 1928 ushered in a period of economic downturn followed by the Great Depression. Funding dried up and by 1933, the Olympia holdings were sold to the Hobe Sound Co.'s stockholders.

If you look closely, you can still see faint glimpses from the past in the part of Hobe Sound known as Old Hobe Sound, where Bridge Road meets the FEC tracks and Old Dixie Highway. The roads fan out from the location of the never built Olympia railroad station and 1920's cement streetlights run along Dixie Highway. Another reminder is Zeus Park which sits next to the old Olympia town hall which was the sales office of the Olympia developers.

Today Zeus Park is a passive, circular shaped park in the middle of a neighborhood of charming cottages from the 1920's. The park has a large open area for play, picnic tables, a playground, and a butterfly garden in the northwest corner of the park. The butterfly garden was created in 1998 by the Hobe Sound Women’s Club. The butterfly garden was rebuilt after the hurricanes of 2004 and it is maintained by the Hobe Sound Women’s Club and Martin County Master Gardeners. The mature oak trees around the perimeter enhances the beauty of the park and provides welcome shade from the Florida sun. I enjoyed discovering the fascinating history of this...

I do like walking here, dogs are suppose to be leashed. They do have a dog run across the street. Their is places to sit but as far as kids go, Martin Co has NEVER put much thought into kids playgrounds in Hobe Sound , their lacking ALOT . Actually I would put them at 1 star.Their is no covering like other parks so the equipment is too hot in summer. Not a lot of anything , they really wet cheap a few swings not big slides for older kids. Nothing fun like you see in other area parks. Has a lot to be desired & no thought or $ for such an expensive county went...

It's not the typical dog park. It's more of a park for children, even though dogs are allowed. They have to be on leash. There is no fence to keep them from going in the road or running away. There was no Water for Dogs to drink. There were poop bags tho. There were no other Dogs for Max to play with and even if there were they wouldn't really be able to play on leash. It's a very beautiful place but we wont be going back. I wont be taking...