Cycling Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park

Thursday, February 24, 2022 was our first full day visiting our friends Nan and George Finlayson and Nancy and Jim Tidball where they winter in Stuart, Florida.   A bike ride in Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park in nearby Jupiter, Florida was our first big outing.

The Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park, contained in what is also known as Riverbend Park, is the site of the last great battle of the Second Seminole War. This 64 acre park is one of the most significant multi-level historic sites in Palm Beach County. Prehistoric and historic habitation has occurred along the Loxahatchee for over 5,000 years. The primary goal of the park is to preserve and protect these historic and cultural resources, while providing education and recreation opportunities to the public. 

As soon as the United States acquired Florida in 1821, it began urging the Seminole Indians there to leave their lands and relocate along with other southeastern tribes to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Some Seminole leaders signed a treaty in 1832, and part of the tribe moved. But other Seminoles refused to recognize the treaty and fled into the Florida Everglades. When the U.S. Army arrived in 1835 to enforce the treaty, the Indians were ready for war. The campaigns of the Second Seminole War involved intense guerrilla warfare by the Seminole. Lasting seven years, it was the fiercest war waged by the U.S. government against American Indians. The United States spent more than $20 million fighting the Seminoles. The war left more than 1,500 soldiers and uncounted American civilians dead. And the obvious duplicity of the U.S. government's tactics marred Indian-white relations throughout the country for future generations.  After the Battle of the Loxahatchee, General Jesup, who commanded the U.S. troops, petitioned Washington to allow the Seminoles to remain in the Everglades and end the war. Washington denied Jesup’s request, whereby six hundred Seminoles were captured under a white flag of truce at Fort Jupiter.

We were ignorant of all this history as we started our pedalling, but we looked forward to the sights and understanding that our fearless leader George would expose us to as we followed him along the multiuse trails in the park:

This is the closest we have every come to duplicating the experience of paddling wetlands and streams while actually riding our bikes.  The wildlife was abundant, including an alligator and many wading birds such as these two:

Our route featured the Loxahatchee River, some smaller streams, and at least two picturesque lakes such as this --

-- and this --

-- as well as a pretty canal over which our bike path stretched:

Our intrepid cyclists posed for a portrait on the bridge --

-- and Kathy and George demonstrated how to bicycle out onto a smaller nearby bridge marked with a sign, "No Admittance - Authorized Personnel Only":

The more law-abiding bikers found some whole shells to mine in gravel and shell fill the park used to build up the path to the canal bridge.  Here, Kathy and Nan display their prizes --

-- while Nance displays some gorgeous spiral shells which may be transformed into a mobile or wind chime:

Pedaling through the canopied hammock forest, we came upon a number of surprises, such as this strawberry made in mosaic out of shells and bezels:

George led us to the 300 year old oak tree, dubbed "Tree of Tears", which sits atop a burial mound, and may have been the place where wounded Seminoles were brought to be treated or buried after the Battle of Loxahatchee.  It and the burial mound are protected by a fence and its history memoralized by a bronze plaque:

Nan then led us to a slightly more whimsical tree.  Can you find the three ladies hiding out in this photo?

Biking on, we crossed a number of additional streams --

-- as we searched for the Park's historic farmstead, which eluded us on this trip.  However, we found some beautiful epiphytes, or air plants, tucked into strategic spots in some of the trees:

The Park is huge, and so, although the parking lots were full of visitors' cars, we only ran into others occasionally, including a few people who launched canoes and kayaks to paddle the streams:

Giving up on our farmstead quest, we started our return ride to our parking lot -- when, suddenly, we encountered this deer who, startling on the trail, bounded into the nearby cover.  We thought she was long gone and we would not get a photo, but it turned out that she only ran far enough to feel protected, and was actually keeping an eye on us.  When we spotted her again in the bushes, she was kind enough to pause long enough for us to snap this portrait:

Cycling builds up a powerful hunger and thirst. After loading the bikes, we drove over to Guanabanas in Jupiter for a lovely lunch on their deck.  So, after an afternoon's outing, we agreed to rejoin for dinner at a local music venue, Terra Fermatta, with carry out food from nearby Taco Shack.  We enjoyed more than two hours of blues presented by Hurricane Hawk and the Invaders.  It was 9:30 when we finally wrapped things up, said our goodnights to our friends, and returned to our campground for a good night's sleep.  

Got to rest to do it again tomorrow!