History

Waccasassa Bay Preserve State Park is one of the most unique properties of the Florida State Parks. It is the sixth largest park at over 34,000 acres. 

The preserve's over 19,000 acres of tidal marshes stretch over 20 miles of shoreline. Those marshes and the creeks contained within them provide important estuarine habitat for many of Florida's salt water sport fish. Waccasassa Bay's tidal marshes are also home to the endangered Florida salt marsh vole.

Contained within the parks boundaries are the last five miles of the Waccasassa River before it spills out into the Gulf of America.

On the outer edge of all of that tidal marsh are some of the last remains of what was once Florida's largest hydric hammock, Gulf Hammock. Gulf Hammock once covered approximately 100,000 acres but has now been reduced to a fraction of that size. Many of the trees within the hammock are at either the northern or southern edge of their range which makes for a unique mix of trees which can be found almost nowhere else.

All of this natural majesty is only accessible by water. Public boat ramps can be found in Cedar Key to the west, in the town Gulf Hammock on the Waccasassa River, and in Yankeetown to the south.