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Photo: Original uploader was Emanuel Kingsley at en.wikipedia, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Late 18th and early 19th-century plantation established in Spanish Florida. It persisted into the antebellum United States and is arguably the best preserved and longest preserved plantation in the state. Even many of the old tabby concrete cabins, where slaves were kept, still stand as ruins.
Kingsley Plantation is the site of a former estate on Fort George Island, in Duval County, Florida, that was named for its developer and most famous owner, Zephaniah Kingsley, who spent 25 years there. It is located at the northern tip of Fort George Island at Fort George Inlet, and is part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve managed by the U.S. National Park Service. Kingsley's house is the oldest plantation house still standing in Florida, and the solidly-built village of slave cabins is one of the best preserved in the United States. It is also "the oldest surviving antebellum Spanish Colonial plantation in the United States."
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Old mansion and wedding venue built in 1928 near the site of a long-abandoned Spanish mission.
The park covers the entire 2,500 acre island. Big Talbot Island State Park lies to the immediate north. The park contains maritime forests, dunes, and salt marshes on the western side of the island. Wild life includes river otters, marsh rabbits, bobcats, and a variety of native and migrating birds. Activities include camping, fishing, hiking, swimming, canoeing, nature watching and surfing. Amenities include a full–facility campground, as well as a youth/group tent campground and beachside picnic pavilions. The park also has bath houses, a small boat ramp, a nature trail, and a playground. Bicycles and canoes can be rented at the campground. The park is open from 8AM till dark.
The park is a nature preserve and a location for nature study, bird–watching, or photography. Other activities include hiking, bicycling, fishing, boating, canoeing, and kayaking, and picnicking. Amenities include picnic pavilions, nature trails, a fishing pier, a boat ramp, bike trails and beaches. The park is open from 8AM till sundown year round.
Reconstruction of a 16th-century French fort that was captured by the Spanish.