Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park, located across the street from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, is a whopping 509 acres and it is filled to the brim with tons of nature. The park has a Nature Center with an outdoor classroom, picnic area, playground, archery club, bike trails, hiking and nature trails, plus a wooden tower that is the perfect spot to check out the wetlands.

This regional park offers several miles of hiking and biking trails easily accessible and marked. Most notably is the 1 mile loop trail. Right at the start of the trail sits the nature center and butterfly garden.

The trails are shaded by tall trees that make the hike way more than bearable even in our hot Florida weather. The trail is concrete at first then transforms into a boardwalk to cross the wetlands. There are a few dirt trails to follow too but the boardwalk is our favorite part.

The land was first leased from the Navy in 1979. A decade later, then-Councilwoman Tillie Fowler (later a U.S. Representative) began to push hard to develop the land. The remnants of a brick road that had linked Ortega to Jacksonville and can be found around the park.  The road pre-dates 1917 but was heavily used when Camp Johnston was built as part of the preparations to train American troops during World War I.

In 1996, the observation tower, nature center and outdoor classroom were added. In 2005, the park was renamed for Tillie K. Fowler- a woman of impeccable grace and civility. She had advocated on behalf of issues important to the City of Jacksonville and for the needs of the United States armed forces, particularly the U.S. Navy.

Top photo by: @daniel_johnson018