Washington Oaks Gardens State Park

This park is absolutely beautiful and was definitely a highlight of my Florida vacation. I first visited the gardens, where the Oak trees create an atmosphere that looks straight out of a movie. The Spanish moss hanging from the trees, the gazebo, fountain, and garden made me want to sit here for hours on one of the many benches scattered along the walkways. My only suggestion is to bring bug spray, I got the worst bite of my entire life while here, and I have been bitten by many mosquitoes in my world travels.
Then I went across the street to the beach part of the park, and it was perfect timing for sunset. The beach was gorgeous with white sand and scattered seashells, seagulls playing in the surf.
I hope to return here someday soon.

Wonderful park. Ranger took time to tell us the history. He was very friendly and passionate about his job! We were there the week of Thanksgiving. I’d like to go back in the spring when everything is in bloom. Highly recommend!

Beautiful park but it’s separated by A1A.
On one side — There’s a mini-​fruit orchard, rose gardens, a gazebo, lots of benches to rest on, nice bathroom in a mini-​museum, a stage for performances, and nature trails. You can also fish here.
On the other side — It’s the beach, baby! You can’t swim here because there are a lot of coquina rocks and boulders on the coastline and the waves are very choppy. But you can just come and admire the water on the boardwalk or walk up and down the shore.
It costs $ 5 to enter but I think it’s run on an honor system. No one manned the gates at either entrance as we arrived and left.
We also saw two sea turtles along the small roads that lead into each park. We pulled over got pictures.

I loved this place. It was small enough to see and enjoy the whole park and has the ever of both worlds, beach on one side and wooded area on the other. Steve at the from was super nice and helpful and all of the hikes are short enough to enjoy. There’s tons of banana spiders in the trees on the trails but they are harmless and help with the other bugs. I can’t tell you how lovely the scenery was, it was great. The beach was crystal clear and beautiful with a small rock formation to explore. Not too many people on either side so it was also a nice place to spend some time in solitude connecting with nature. Great stop for me on my trip up the east coast.

Favorite State Park within a 90 minute drive! Washington Oaks has everything. It spans the whole barrier island, so turn left off of AIA and head to the gardens to check out a gorgeous live oak and pretty trails to the intracoastal. Turn right to find the most unique beach in Florida — orange coquina sand with a huge area of giant rocks. Seriously, you’ll feel like you’re in Oregon instead of FL! There are a few calm rock-​free areas for swimming, but this is a great place to sit on a rock and watch the waves on a turbulent day. It’s also my favorite spot to avoid crowds – we went on Memorial Day and had a great time!

As an out-​of-​towner, I’m not lucky enough to be able to take advantage of a regular membership at Washington Oaks, but if I lived in Florida I certainly would! This park is just so lovely… it has both an ocean side and a beautiful forest, with trees covered in hanging spanish moss. It is so serene and peaceful!
My own experience with Washington Oaks was as a special events user. I flew down to Florida (where my parents live) to investigate venues for my wedding. As soon as I went to Washington Oaks, I knew that I’d found the place. I was so pleasantly surprised at the price for reserving the gazebo (they have a variety of locations throughout the park for weddings, but I found this to be the most picturesque). Only $ 85 for the booking. Our location actually cost us less than the out of town marriage license — can’t beat that!
The staff was pleasant to work with and responsive. I had a very small wedding, so I can’t speak to the arrangements if you work with them to set up for a large group, but I would highly recommend them for the experience that we did have.

Loved it! Beautiful place. Unfortunately when I went it was raining so I couldn’t spend as much time there as I’d hoped. One of the things I wondered before visiting was how long would it take to see everything and walk the trails but couldn’t find anything so I’m leaving this info for those of you searching for the same. Once you get to the park you will see a layout of the trails with the approximate length of time it will take you to maneuver through them, about 30 min or so. More of course if you really take your time to sit down, take photos or enjoy nature. I did sit for a bit and in that short time I heard many birds singing their songs, heard and saw a squirrel and even a black snake (about 2 feet). I visited the gift shop which is small & charming with friendly workers. Then made my way across the street towards the beach. Wish I could’ve seen the rocks a bit more up close but the waves were crashing in big time due to an approaching storm. Fabulous place, go check it out. Also, it’s truly beautiful & scenic. I really wish most visitors would be able to speak a little quieter and not allow their children to run around screaming. Kinda takes the «relaxation and serene» part out of the equation.

This park is just one of many reasons that makes purchasing the Florida State Park annual pass a no brainer. What started out as a winter home and plantation evolved into a magical botanical garden filled with native plants and flowers, citrus trees and giant live oaks, it’s also filled with an abundance of wildlife.
There are surprises waiting to be discovered along every path and every turn reveals something amazing I can’t imagine how this looked in the early 1900’s when Louise Powis Clark purchased this property to build her retirement home. When she passed in 1962 she donated the property to the State of Florida and spelled out this was contingent that the gardens be maintained as they were when they first appeared on the property.

Such a beautiful park. Worth the $ 5 entry fee. Lovely views with great trails. A great place for a family that likes the outdoors. Also a wonderful spot for a wedding or photo ops. I enjoyed the shade and beauty of the ancient oaks whole hiking the trails. It was also cool to experience the change in ecosystem as you walked closer to the water, going from towering, shady oaks to scrub palms and trees just taller than you. A hidden treasure that is a must see.

I love love love Washington Oaks State Park. I recently ventured to this venue for a wedding. It was a photographer’s dream! Everything was so photogenic.
There were bugs everywhere and it was extremely hot, but it’s July in Florida. I’d suggest bringing sunscreen and bug spray.
The park is expansive! I feel like I only saw 10% of the park while I visited. I’ll definitely be back in the future.

Washington Oaks Gardens State Park is such a pleasant little surprise, right along A1A in Palm Coast. To drive by, as I have a few times before, you would think that there just couldn’t be much back there. But wow! I was quite pleased to find such lovely shady trails, a quaint home with gorgeous gardens and plenty of intercoastal waterway fishing spots that line the water — with park benches and even more shade!
Okay so maybe I’m stressing the shadiness of this park, but coming from a super hot urban island with very little trees, it was nice to have a bit of tree canopy to cool things down. The trees at Washington Oaks are huge, old growth Live Oaks that you could just photograph all day. Well, at least I could. This state park takes you back in time to old Coastal Florida, before the days of condos and plowing over the all the shrubby palms to make room for landscaping.
Take the time to pass by, even it you have a short time. There are shorter trails, scenic views and cute little gift shop that actually had some quite unique jewelry and other products.

Interesting that this place wasn’t on Unilocal when the girlfriend decided to drive here after visiting Fort Matanzas, as it wasn’t very far of a drive south. If you truly appreciate nature, love the outdoors, bird watching, and going for walks while smelling the sweet smell if citrus trees and flowers this is a must stop for you. One thing is for sure though, it’s VERY quiet out here. They have a nice walkway around a little water garden/​pond thingy with Koi in it. Some of them are pretty big. There is a big rose garden too but they weren’t in bloom. One thing that blew me away was the size of some of the citrus fruits. They had a ponderosa lime tree and the limes where twice the size of softballs. There was also a place to fish if that is your thing down on the inter-​coaster waterway.
Overall a great place to unwind and relax