Turkey Creek Sanctuary and the Margaret Hames Nature Center

 

Turkey Creek Sanctuary and the Margaret Hames Nature Center at 1518 Port Malabar Boulevard in Palm Bay. Butterfly Cassia, Cork Stem Passionflower, and Sand Pine native plants in the Butterfly Garden. Bird Watchers can enjoy the Great Florida Birding Trail. Walk or jog on the 1.5-mile jogging trail.

The nature center is named after Margaret Hames, an environmentalist who was instrumental in saving several exceptional areas that became parks. Marine shells, Fiber Tempered Pottery Shards, Native American Pottery, and Artifacts exhibited. The first examples of pottery were over four thousand years ago. Crystals from Florida, coquina, clams, and fossils displayed. Pen, and ink drawings of reptiles including a Gila monster, and a six-lined racerunner.

Individuals donated the animals mounted in the Nature Center. Books on the table illustrate birds, butterflies, and reptiles. More than 180 species of butterflies exist in Florida. Zebra Longwing is Florida’s state butterfly.

Take a brochure as you walk on the boardwalk a 1.8-mile self-guided tour. People’s names carved on the wooden planks. Relax in the gazebo or have a picnic. Free entrance to the sanctuary and nature center; hours of operation on the website.

Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens

Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens at 950 Old Sugar Mill Road in Port Orange. Before Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens became a botanical garden, it was a Plantation and Sugar Mill Factory. In the early 1830s, two families Dunn and Lawton formed a partnership to run the Plantation and Sugar Mill Factory. Plaques throughout the ruins details the life of the families and the production of sugar cane. The slaves and free workers kept the plantation running.

During the second Seminole War, the Seminole Indians burned the plantation and all that remains is the Sugar Mill Ruins. Walk around the Boardwalk to view the engine room, steam engine cane crusher, engine powered roller and boiling room. The Sugar Mill Ruins is a Protected Archaeological Area. 

The Botanical Gardens has been in operation since the late 1980s. A Gazebo for wedding ceremonies. Couples who before married at the Gazebo had their names engraved on the hitching posts. From the Human Sundial to plants that attract butterflies, Red Buckeye, Spineless Yucca and Shell Ginger Collection to a 200-year-old Live Oak, the gardens have a wide variety of interests for everyone. An onsite Horticulture Reference Library moved from its original site in Orange City. Three trails to walk, The Audubon Trail, Florida Hammock Trail, and Boggy Trail Path. Entrance to the gardens is free; donations are accepted.