HISTORY & HERITAGE
Fort Pierce Inlet State Park
St. Lucie County · Atlantic Coast
Three hundred and forty acres on North Hutchinson Island at the Fort Pierce inlet, with a half-mile beach and a reef a hundred yards out.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
The park sits on North Hutchinson Island between the Atlantic and Tucker Cove, taking in dune, beach and coastal hammock along the Indian River Lagoon. Half a mile of it is beach. What makes it different from most beach parks is the offshore reef, roughly a hundred yards out, which brings snorkelers and divers in on calm days and makes the surf break the way surfers want it on rough ones. Inside the park there is a paved cycling route, nature trails and picnic ground. Jack Island Preserve, a mile north on A1A, is part of the same park and has its own trails for walking and cycling, with an observation tower giving a view over the Indian River and the island. The land has history the visitor does not see: this stretch of coast was a naval amphibious training base in the Second World War, and the frogmen who trained here are remembered at the museum a short way up the road
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