Park #132 -Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park

Just north of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is Dagny Johnson Key Largo Botanical State Park. It seems to be a popular park and we saw a lot of people riding bikes and walking their dogs on the paved trail.

There is a very large spanish style entrance at this park, and as we were walking in on the paved trail something seemed odd. Then as we got further into the park there was a circle with fancy cement walls – like a fountain was once here. Then there were stone walls that seemed to have no purpose. I knew that these weren’t built by the park service!

It all made sense later on when I learned that this park was once slated to be a condominium complex! Saved was a thick tropical hardwood forest throughout the park, which is unusual for the keys. It was so thick that painting anywhere on the trails was hard to do. So we traveled back to the “fountain” remnants.

I decided to paint part of the concrete wall that was slowly being covered by vines. As I painted bright orange Julia butterflies fluttered around on some native flowers. The blustery wind we experienced at John Pennekamp park was being blocked by the thick forest and the terrace provided nice shade.

For more information about this park visit their website