2700 Sixth Avenue South
Lake Worth

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John Prince Park might not be the first place that comes to mind as a place to get into nature. Golfing maybe. Boating and fishing, maybe. Picnicking, certainly. For a nature hike, someplace else. But John Prince actually has a small network of nature trails tucked away near the campgrounds in the southeast corner of the park. The trails have a bit of history to them — they are the oldest nature trails in Palm Beach County. Which is fitting, since John Prince is the oldest county-operated park in the county and it is believed to be the second-oldest in Florida.

The trails are short, about a half-mile total, but cut through several ecosystems, including hammock and wet prairie. We spotted some flowering plants that we hadn't seen elsewhere. Other parts of John Prince are worth exploring — the park is 726 acres, including 338 acres of water. John Prince borders Lake Osborne. All that water means there are 35,000 feet of waterfront in the park, and where there's water, there's usually wildlife.

Species we spotted included limpkin, grackles, coreopsis, fleabane, white tops, pond apple, sea grape, gumbo limbo, cabbage palm, strangler fig, paradise tree, spanish needles, virginia creeper, poison ivy, white peacock butterfly, zebra longwing butterfly, pondhawk, halloween pennant and blue dasher dragonflies. There are entrances on Congress Avenue and Lake Worth Road in addition to Sixth Avenue South.

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