Washington Oaks: State park has state's most unusual beach

Washington Oaks Gardens State Park provides visitors the beauty of the Pacific on Florida's coast.

Nearly every Florida beach is covered with sand and shells; Washington Oaks' beachfront is heaped with rocks. Tidal pools fill crevasses and waves splash against the rocks' hard surfaces.

But rocks piled high on the beach are just part of the draw of this state park.

Sandwiched between the Matanzas River and the ocean just south of Marineland on Florida A1A, this is Florida at its finest - and most unusual. You can't even swim there.

It's actually two parks in one. On the beach side of A1A is the rocky shore. Once visitors cross the highway, they make their way into the other portion of the park - one marked by stately gardens.

Sprawling acres of live oaks draped with Spanish moss and impeccably maintained roses define the gardens.

There's a recently renovated greenhouse and grounds teeming with wildlife, a presence made obvious by gates that read "keep closed because of nearby deer." Even the skies contribute to the nature show, with hawks flying overhead.

The park is made up of distinct ecosystems: the coastal scrub, the maritime hammock and the coquina rocks. The hammock has live oaks, cabbage palms, red bay and hickory trees that provide shelter to animals offering them shade and protecting from strong winds.

The coastal scrub offers the perfect environment for the indigo snake, gopher tortoise and the scrub jay bird, which is currently endangered.

The beach, the park's most unique feature, is piled with coquina rocks stacked on top of each other. The coquina rocks are an ecosystem themselves and provide a foundation for plants and animals such as algae, limpets and crabs.

It's one of the few places you'll find rocks on the beach in Florida; one of the few places you'll find rocks anywhere in Florida, for that matter.

"A lot of shells were exposed to the rain. Rainwater is naturally acidic. The calcium was being leeched out of the shells and cemented them together," said Joe Woodburry, a park services specialist.

Visitors can take part in on-shore fishing, sunbathing or simply feel the sand between their toes. But they can't swim at the beach due to the dangers posed by the rocks.

There are also 20 acres of formal, ornamental gardens in addition to all of the natural ecosystems. They're a gift from the land's last owners.

Owen D. Young and his wife, Louise, purchased the land in 1936 as a winter estate from Spanish general Joseph Marion Hernandez, whose daughter married a distant relative of George Washington, hence the name of Washington Oaks.

Young was well known for founding the Radio Corporation of America. In the formal gardens area of the park stands a visitor center that served as the Youngs' home.

When Young died in the 1960s, his wife donated most of the land to the state of Florida, specifying that the gardens be "maintained in their present form."

It's a promise that has been kept to this day.

"The ornamental gardens were put in by the Youngs in the 1930s and are part of our history," Woodburry said. "The park was donated to the state with the requirement that the gardens be kept for visitors to enjoy in perpetuity."

The park was opened to the public on July 1, 1964. Today it has multiple monthly events and activities for the whole family, which can be found at washingtonoaks.org.

"On a monthly bases we offer a plant sale on the second Saturday of every month," said Amy Biedenbach, a park services specialist.

Activities such as birding, trail walking, fishing from their sea wall and garden walks are offered year-round. This month, Washington Oaks will also start a ranger-led garden walk once a month.

"On the third Saturday we have a photo challenge each month," she continued. "Visitors submit the photos and the staff or volunteer crew looks them over and [the winning] photo gets displayed in the visitors center."

Lauren Dennis and Christian Giles are students at the University of North Florida.