Take A Trip Back In Time – Visit Lettuce Lake Park

, 6920 E. Fletcher Ave., is a great place to dial back time.

Even though you can’t explore every inch of Lettuce Lake Park on foot, you can rent a canoe or kayak and visit its northern boundaries. You will find the landscape much as it was more than 250 years ago.

The Royal Spanish Navy was one of the first to explore and chart this area in 1757. Don Francisco Maria Celi and a 19-man crew traveled up the river, measuring and recording each reach and turn while exploring possible timber resources.

Many years later, in 1977, a team of local and county officials explored the proposed park site. The group included Martin H. Smith, community planner and former director of the Hillsborough County Planning Commission. "We had to walk all over the place," Smith said. "We wanted to see how it would lay out."

The team didn't know what to expect the first trip out. The walk through the initial portion wasn't bad but that turned rough when they headed toward the Hillsborough River. They walked through brackish water two feet deep that was home to water moccasins and alligators. "We were wading around in sneakers," Smith said. "We were just lucky no one was bitten.”

Lettuce Lake Park was developed in the late ‘70s and opened in 1982. More than 170 of the park’s 240 acres remain undeveloped. This acreage - a hardwood swamp forest - lies in the natural floodplain of the Hillsborough River. The forest provides a natural storage reservoir for floodwater and improves water quality. It acts as a biological filter to remove excess nutrients from the water, said park manager Rusty Scholtz.

Scholtz has managed the park since 1980. He enjoys the park’s pristine serenity most. “A five- minute ride up river and it’s like you’re going back 100 years in time,” he said. The surroundings, wildlife, trees and flowers are all so different than just outside the park gate, Scholtz said.

Because of the valuable and sensitive nature of this area, it is a protected conservation area so species, such as the Florida gopher tortoise, scrub jays, indigo snake and other wildlife, can live there, said Kemly Green, Hillsborough County parks spokesperson. 

The park expanded visitors’ options last year when canoe and kayak rentals were added. You can enjoy up to four hours of paddling for $25.

Travel up the river, through the narrows and get a glimpse of “old Florida.” Don’t forget your camera.

You can see great blue and tricolor herons, ibis like those who aerate your front lawn, limpkins eating apple snails, Anhinga drying its feathers, osprey in flight and great white egrets that might even pose for a picture. You might see a family of more than 12 turtles sunning themselves on a log, then slipping quickly into the water before you get too close. Look closely and you might see baby alligators under their mother’s watchful eye or larger gators showing the best path for your canoe. Grandpa gator might be seen napping in the sun on the bank across the river from the canoe launch.

Not into water exploration? Stay on land and take a walk along the cypress and oak tree shaded 3,500-foot boardwalk that crosses the park’s wetlands. From here you can see a variety of birds, apple snails and wild turkeys. From the 1.25-mile blacktop walk/bike trail you might see deer, bobcat, and swamp rabbits.

Lettuce Lake, originally just an inlet of the river, was named for the floating plant life that resembles lettuce. You will find spatterdock and water lilies floating on top. Hydrilla grows up from the bottom in the shallow water. Purple pickerelweed and star lilies are found throughout the marshy area.

There are five distinct vegetations in the park - pine flatwoods, xeric oak hammock, cypress dome, riverine swamp and hydric hammock. New signage soon will be installed to make these areas identifiable from the trail.

Visitors of all ages come to the park to watch, listen and experience nature. Some come for picnics, hikes, bike rides, bird watching, to explore the boardwalk or for weddings. Fishing is allowed throughout the park, except off the observation tower or at the canoe launch. School children come in busses.  John Knox Village and Veterans’ Administration vans bring seniors to enjoy the serene atmosphere of the park in a wheelchair or walker. 

Park Ranger Steven Kennedy loves his job. “How many people can truly say they love what they do?” he said. “It’s very rewarding.”

Eight park rangers are responsible for all facets of the park - education of visitors; park maintenance of boardwalks, buildings and grounds; and security.

The many “thank yous” the rangers receive from park visitors are the best. “When the visitors enjoy the surroundings as much as we do, it’s all worthwhile,” said Scholtz.

The park features a visitors’ center, an observation tower, nature trails, picnic shelters, barbeque pits, restrooms, sand volley ball court, exercise stations on the paved trail and playground equipment.

More than 1,000 visitors come to the park each day, said the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department.

The county partners with the Audubon Society of Tampa Bay to educate park visitors. Audubon activities bring visitors to the park for Saturday and Sunday afternoon classes (www.tampaaudubon.org).

The Audubon Resource Center (ARC-at-the-Park) has displays of wildlife and plant life you might find in the park. Family nature programs are offered the second Saturday each month at 10 a.m. with Nature Girl Diana. A donation of $5 per family is encouraged. Visitors may come August 13 to learn to name local frogs by their calls.

The park is open daily - spring/summer 8am - 7:30pm, fall/winter 8am – 5:30pm. It’s closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Entrance to the park $2 per vehicle (up to eight people) and $1 per person over eight. Those on foot or on bicycle get in free. An annual pass is $50 for individual or $100 for family. Annual pass information (www.hillsborougcounty.org/parks/parkservices). To rent a shelter, call 813-931-RENT. For park information call 813-987-6204.