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Photo: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Composed of islands and land that surrounds Charlotte Harbor. The park can be accessed from Punta Gorda, Cape Coral, Cape Haze, El Jobean, Rotonda and Little Pine Island. The main offices are approximately 3 miles (5 km) south of US 41/Tamiami Trail, in Punta Gorda. The park provides vast areas of unspoiled scenery and vital habitat for many varieties of wildlife. The upland areas of the park are accessible at pedestrian walk-throughs available in each section of the park. The park also manages more than 80 miles (130 km) of Charlotte Harbor shoreline. Most of it is shallow water fringed by mangroves. These areas provide amazing opportunities to view wading birds, manatees, dolphins and other wildlife. It is best accessed by kayak or canoe.
Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park is a 46,000-acre (190 km2) Florida State Park, composed of islands and land that surrounds Charlotte Harbor. It is part of the Southwest Florida Water Management District and protects the Gasparilla Sound/ Charlotte Harbor, Cape Haze, Matlacha Pass, and Pine Island Sound aquatic preserves. It is site 22 on southern section of the Great Florida Birding Trail and offers boating, paddling, fishing, and hiking.
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Gilchrist House
Albert Gilchrist owned the property until 1903, who went on to serve as the governor of Florida, but sold it to Augustus Freeman who developed the property and was important locally as a politician. Due to the importance of the owners of the property and its Queen Anne architectural style, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The house has been moved twice, once before its addition to the register, and again twenty years later following Hurricane Charley.