FLORIDA PLACE TO EXPLORE
Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
St. Johns County · Atlantic Coast
Nearly 77,000 acres of protected estuary between Ponte Vedra and Marineland, with nine miles of trail and seventeen archaeological sites.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
The reserve was designated on August 19, 1999, and covers 76,760 acres across three estuaries, the Guana, the Tolomato and the Matanzas, along with the Atlantic shoreline in front of them. It is a research reserve rather than a park, which means most of it is left alone and studied. The Guana River was dammed in 1957 to make marsh for waterfowl, and the lake behind the dam runs brackish at its southern end and fresh further up, so saltwater and freshwater fish live in the same body of water. Over nine miles of trail cross pine flatwoods, maritime hammock, mangrove and dune. The visitor center is at 505 Guana River Road in Ponte Vedra Beach, ten miles north of St. Augustine. North Atlantic right whales calve off this coast in winter, and manatees, sea turtles, bald eagles and the endangered Anastasia Island beach mouse all live here. Seventeen archaeological sites lie within it, including shell middens and a burial mound
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