Spruce Bluff Preserve — Local services in Port Saint Lucie

Spruce Bluff Preserve is 97 acres. In the 1990's a community of more than 60 homes was planned for the area but in 1995 the St. Lucie County saved the historic spot by buying the land and making it into one of the county's first preserves, The hiking trail is on the marsh and scrub land in between the houses off Southbend Boulevard along the North Fork of the St. Lucie River. This is one of the more interesting hiking trips I have taken because there is so much history here.

If you take the trail from the parking lot about half a mile down you will come to the site that was a pioneer settlement and cemetery along the banks of the St. Lucie River. The trail itself was the roadway for the development that never happened. The area was settled in 1891 after the Second Seminole War ended in 1842. Spruce Bluff founder John Enos Fultz Jr. came from South Carolina to farm pineapples which did well in the sandy soil. Spruce Bluff was a community of several families with a school, post office and sawmill. To make $10 a month Fultz rowed the St. Lucie River to Stuart to deliver the mail to Stuart. In 1894 and 1895 a winter freeze killed the crops and the families moved out of the area. Fultz moved to Ft. Pierce where he became the first Clerk of the Circuit Court for St. Lucie County when it was created in 1905. To find the cemetery look for the two wooden posts on the side of the right hand trail that leads to a sandy trail that takes you to it. The cemetery is surrounded by a fence with a monument. It is owned privately but you are welcome to visit. The seven headstones of the Spruce Bluff pioneers buried inside the fence were vandalized so one monument was put up instead.

If you take the trail behind the parking lot it leads to an Ais midden which was their trash dump. Middens are important because they can tell you a lot about the people who lived in the area. This midden has yielded fish bones during excavations. To get to the site you travel along a one mile trail. As you make your way down you come to two boardwalks that cross over the wetlands. The Ais were a tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the Atlantic Coast of Florida from present day Cape Canaveral to the St. Lucie Inlet. They became extinct in the 1760's when they were sold off for slaves or succumbed to disease. The best knowledge we have of these people came from Jonathan Dickinson's journal when he was taken prisoner by them. There is no sign for the mound. It's 20 feet high and 180 feet wide and may be hundred of thousands of years old. If you didn't know it was back there it would just look like a hill.

In addition to the hiking trails which can also be biked there is canoe access. A saw a lot of birds on the trail as well as many adorable rabbits. It's an easy hike and the history of this area makes it a very special...

This really is a beautiful park, there are really two Trails in here. The cemetery Trail this Trail is really easy to hike, mostly crushed stone and really well maintained Trail the whole way to the cemetery and back. It really is a beautiful hike, but you're right out in the middle of the swamp. It's worth doing in a very easy hike quite beautiful. The Indian Mound Trail this is by far the most beautiful of the two hikes. The trail is awfully rough though, with sections of the trail very poorly maintained and flooded almost all the time it looks like. I was actually unable to hike all the way to the Indian Mound. I had to stop at the second Boardwalk, because the trail Beyond was completely flooded and unmaintained. I couldn't see any way around the flooded areas either. But it really is a beautiful hike, if you want to make a hike across some...

This park and trails have the potential to be absolutely amazing. However the board walks need to be extended as much of the middle half of the South trail is ankle deep in mud and water. While we navigated around the mud through the brush, its not appropriate for small children, disabled or elderly persons. This trail should be navigated with good tennis shoes or boots. The first and last sections are nice ground cover with grass, pine needles or sand. Most of the trail is shaded and comfortable in fall. The moist areas are mosquito heavy. We had our 2 dogs with us and took our time on this trail and it took just over an hour round trip. We saw lots of tracks, birds, snakes and turtles. There was evidence of pigs rooting as well. The boardwalks over the wetlands...