"Lake Harmon" is one of the first features encountered as you enter Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. It's actually a former limestone mine, or quarry, operated by the Harmon Brothers Rock Co. until 2003, when the company's permit to quarry rock expired. Afterwards, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordered Harmon Brothers to create a naturalized, sloped shoreline to provide habitat for emergent plants, including the cat-tails seen to the left, insects, amphibians and small fish. The state bought 200 acres from Harmon Brothers in 2004. Across the way in the center of the photo is the historic Copeland Fire Tower. NEXT STOP: Swamp? What Swamp?
