Excellent place to relax and have a nice day in 6he sun. Highly recommend. You will not be…read moredisappointed.

I was in town visiting. A day pass is valid for a week between $20-25 per vehicle. There are…read moredifferent beach lots. I visited the first lot. There was parking available, accessible restrooms, trash and recycling bins next to beach ramp. The water was a bit chilly but gorgeous! It was easy to walk on the sand, not many shells. I highly recommend a visit to this beach.

A small square block in a space with the Polk County Justice Center on one side and the Old Polk…read moreCounty Courthouse on another, this park is a peaceful little space. The park's defining feature is the Fort Blount Monument and the ring of twelve interpretive columns that surround it. These panels walk visitors through the story of the original frontier outpost that once stood near this site and the subsequent development of Polk County. The monument and columns offer a structured narrative of the county's founding and early settlement. It's the kind of installation that rewards a patient reader, and it gives the park a museum‑like quality without losing its simplicity as a public square. Fort Blount began in 1851 when Readding Blount and his family settled along Peas Creek, joining earlier pioneers and creating a small frontier cluster that soon built a community blockhouse for protection during the Third Seminole War. The fort was never a military post, only a settler refuge, and it faded from use after 1858, though its name defined the early settlement. During the Civil War the local post office adopted the name Bartow in honor of Francis S. Bartow, and in 1867 county commissioners made that name official, retiring Fort Blount to memory. [Review 1613 of 2025 - 2190 in Florida - 25161 overall]

Fort Blount Park is a one-acre site on the northwest corner of Broadway Avenue and Main Street…read moreacross the street from the historic courthouse in downtown Bartow. In 2002 the city of Bartow had torn down some old buildings and was looking to cover this acre in asphalt. Residents wanted something better for their downtown so they launched a fund-raising effort which raised the $200,000 which paid for the columns, fountain, trees and picnic tables. Sponsors paid the 12 pillars that anchor the west side. The pillars have plaques mounted on them that recount the history of Bartow. A dedication ceremony for the park was held in 2002. This area of town was once the site of Fort Blount, built by Redding Blount along with 21 other people which included family, other settlers and slaves. The group came to the area in October 1851. They built a settler blockhouse for protection from the Seminoles who were at war with the US army who were trying to relocate them to Oklahoma. The community was named Fort Blount after the fort. Later on it was renamed Pease Creek and the name was changed to Bartow in 1867 to honor Confederate General Francis S. who died during the Battle of Bull Run. The blockhouse was abandoned as a fortification before the end of the Third Seminole War in 1858. Today the park has peaceful towering oaks. It is used to stage festivals and events in the downtown area like the Bloomin' Arts Fetival I was visiting. It was interesting to read some of plaques and learn the history of the town. More history can be learned across the street in the historic courthouse turned into a history museum. This is just a nice passive park to relax in and watch the town of Bartow go by.

Kiwanis Park is a great local park in Winter Haven, Florida. It's in a neighborhood area across the…read morestreet from a lake and a great walking trail. We were staying at an airbnb nearby so we walked there one morning. There are swings, slides, climbing structures, and it is also accessible for kids with disabilities. There's a little shade from the shade structures but there are not many trees. A small pavilion is another option for some shade and rest. The water fountains could use some work. Kiwanis Park is a nice way for kids to burn off some energy with a great view of a lake!

This park is loaded with challenging equipment and two age appropriate areas of play. There is a…read morebathroom, picnic tables, pavilion and a dock. The play equipment is well maintained. The dock is safe and goes out a good distance into the water. No swimming is allowed. While we were playing a collection of homeless people started to migrate to the pavilion. The pavilion loaded up with their belongings as they set up camp. I'm not sure if this is normal but since we are not from the neighborhood we will not be returning.

Opened in 2011, Heritage Peace River Landing is a park that was created as part of a plan to…read moreincrease the public access to bodies of water all over Polk County. The park is located on the east side of the Peace River south of County Road 640. It was added to already existing boat launches in Bartow and Fort Meade. This park provides access to the upper Peace River. The idea for putting a boat launch here dates back to 2003. It was finally accomplished through a public and private partnership. Clear Springs LLC lent heavy equipment and brush was cleared by ACT and the Dick Pope Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association. A boat launching area was then created and a pier was added. The creation of this boat launch helped to extend the paddling trail on the Peace Rive, north from Fort Meade to Bartow. With more people using the river for recreation it is hoped that they will want to protect the river. During the Seminole Wars there were many settlements along this section of the river and to this day it attracts a great variety of wildlife. The river provides drinking water for people downstream and it contributes to the health of the Charlotte Harbor estuary. Heritage Peace River Landing is open 7 days a week from 7 am to 7 pm. In addition to the boat launch and fishing pier there is also a parking lot and picnic shelter. Admission is free. Come out and enjoy the natural beauty of the area by paddling down the Peace River.

This place is tucked away from everything making it a great spot for a picnic, fishing, or just sit…read moreand enjoy nature. Unfortunately there is trash lying around including a bloody looking shirt. People parked on the boat ramp made it inaccessible. There was also a man asleep at the wheel in his truck with his door open and constantly dinging. What could be a beautiful spot is a little to "creepy" for me. We did enjoy hearing two barred owls calling to each other while briefly there and watching a hawk flying overhead.

Beautiful park but absolutly horrible roads...ungodly high speed bumps every few feet that scrape…read morebottom of car. I get needing to control speed, but what idiot thinks this is appropriate?? Never more than a handful of people there, most likely due to over abundance of highly annoying speed bumps. What a waste of taxpayer dollars maintaining this park with limited use. So very sad.

This "strip park" is the "real Florida". The road is lined with trees draped in Spanish moss (and…read morespeed bumps) and flanked by beautiful bodies of water on both sides. There are great covered picnic spots, a tot park, a bigger kid park, fields for games. Great place for a lazy day, walk, bike ride, or outdoor Florida entertaining, or just a melancholgy drive-thru!

This is not open!!! The walkway is closed off!!' Only picnic tables available. And they were…read moreworking in the bathrooms that left a chemical smell for the whole area Lots of parking at the top

This park was the site of a 460 acre open-pit phosphate mine until the early 1980s. The land was…read moredonated to the Polk County Parks and recreation Division in 1984. The park borders the Peace River floodplain. This park is south of Kissingen Spring, which was once one of Florida's major springs pumping more than 20 million gallons a day. It stopped flowing in 1950 as a result of the flow of the Peace River dropping due to the increase of phosphate mining in the area from mines like this one. The park has a peaceful one mile elevated boardwalk that winds through the shady floodplain forest out to the Peace River. Along the way interpretive signs give background information on the 1,800-square-mile Peace River basin. There is an additional 7.5 miles of multi use trails for hiking and horseback riding through wetlands and scrub in the reclaimed mine lands to the west. The parking lot is at the top of the hill and there is a restroom and picnic pavilion in the park. The park is known as a great place to bird watch. Birds that have been sighted here include limpkins, winter ducks, green-winged and blue-winged teal, hooded merganser, gray catbird, blue-headed vireo, American white pelican, and eastern meadowlark. Raptors that have been recorded here are the Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Swallow-tailed Kite. More than 25 wood-warblers have been found in the park like the Louisiana Waterthrush and the Chestnut-sided Warbler. Peace river Mosaic Park is open 7 AM to dusk. Admission is free. This is a great place to get your steps in and take in the natural beauty of Polk County.

Trailhead Park is named for its location on the Chain of Lakes Trail. Opened in 2011, this well…read moreappointed and clean park offers inexpensive fun for the children of Winter Haven. I happened upon Trailhead Park during a recent visit to Winter Haven. Close to downtown, it was the perfect place to take a break and stretch my legs after the long drive. The park is a short walk from Lake Silver across the street. While walking through the park I admired the extensive playground being enjoyed by a number of children on the swings, slides, and climbing areas. The playground area has rubber flooring for safety. and the play equipment is color coded, green for ages 2-5, and purple for ages 5-12. Surrounding the play area are wrought iron benches where parents can sit and keep an eye on their kids as they play. Trailhead Park also has a splash pad that opened in 2016 and restrooms. This lively, family-friendly park has great amenities. While geared for kids, it is a relaxing park for all who visit.

This is such a cute little park to bring children. It is right across from the tennis center and…read morenext to city hall.

We saw a lot of wildlife including massive gators, rabbits and a raccoon and tons of different…read morebirds. It was very peaceful.

What a wonderful, beautifully maintained, park! We were awed on the hiking trail we looped around…read moreon. The wildlife we saw was pure joy. There are interpretive signs, as well as warning signs (alligators, snakes, etc) along the way which was an added bonus. Although there was a huge number of vehicles in the parking lot, we barely ran across other hikers. The pathway we took, about a 2.5 mile loop, had minimal foot traffic. The paths are wide, wide enough for worker or emergency vehicles. We enjoyed this park very much and plan to return, albeit most likely NOT in the dead of the Florida summer heat/humidity. We are not that "adventurous" hahaha. We are very blessed with the County and State parks we have here, that's for sure!

Bonnet Springs Park is a beautiful area in Lakeland…read more We were attending a wedding here and were amazed by how big this park was! The parking was plentiful for the area that this event was held. The ceremony was outside and it was beautiful, sunny day for it. After the ceremony, we got two hours to roam around that part of the park and it was beautiful. A lot of places to walk around and nice photo opps. The outside area where the ceremony was transitioned to an area to play some lawn games until we waited for the reception. The reception area was also big and beautiful with how they decorated it. A beautiful spot for a wedding. I would love to explore this park again if I was ever in Lakeland.

Bonnet Springs Park has been on my bucket list for a while and our family finally decided to make…read morethe 45 minute drive because we were having fantastic weather that weekend and wanted to spend the day outdoors. The park is extremely spread out, but there is a tram service and plenty of parking lots. There are lunch options in the restaurant at the Children's Museum and a rooftop bar, but there are plenty of picnic tables if you prefer to pack your own lunch. We had lunch at the Rooftop Bar with our two picky eaters and quickly realized that we should have ate downstairs where there was chicken tenders and fries. They weren't a fan of the flatbread pizzas, but enjoyed the wings. We did enjoy our cocktails and the view from the upstairs bar so maybe next time we will just grab one drink and then go downstairs for food. We spent several hours at the park and probably only saw half of the attractions so we will return soon to see the rest of the park because we missed out on the train shaped playground equipment located behind the welcome center. The treehouse ended up being a little boring and only had one tunnel slide and one swing so we quickly moved onto the indoor bee exhibit. My boys favorite attraction was the wooden owl that had multiple climbing walls, slides, and nooks to play hide and seek. One of the main outdoor playgrounds was unfortunately under construction. Hopefully they plan to add shade to that playground because everything was in the sun. Overall we really enjoyed our visit to Bonnet Springs Park and was impressed that there was no cost unless you visited the children's museum or ordered food. The attractions are very spread apart so I would like to bring my boys scooters next time we visit.

South Lake Howard Nature Park is the perfect place to enjoy a walk. The 17.6 acre area was…read moreoriginally developed to treat stormwater. Stormwater parks help the environment by capturing and retaining stormwater runoff which prevents flooding in the surrounding areas. It cleanses and stores stormwater to recharge the aquifer. The pond plants removes pollutants from the water leaving it clean. Left untreated stormwater leads to algal blooms, muck deposits, fish kills, and other environmental problems. These ponds also attract a variety of wildlife including Florida's beautiful wading birds, alligators and turtles while providing a recreation area for the public. The South Lake Howard Nature Park opened in 2001 and contains stormwater ponds and infrastructure to help clean and filter the stormwater water from the sucrose's and neighborhoods before it enters Lake Howard. At the entrance to the park is a parking lot, picnic pavilions with tables, and restrooms. The first part of the trail into the park is a 1,000 foot boardwalk that takes you over the water. Further into the park are three paved loops measuring a quarter mile, half mile, and mile. At one point you have to cross over 21st West. The paved pathways make it easy for people of all exercise abilities to enjoy the park. As wonderful as the park is, there is even more to come. The city purchased an adjoining property which was the former home of WSIR Radio. They plan on adding more trails, boardwalks, kayak launch, play area, disc golf, an outdoor classroom and other amenities. Keep an eye out for the exciting new developments at South Lake Howard Nature Park.