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| The Discovery Trail portion of the Heritage Trail |
The Heritage Trail is a short--just over a mile and a quarter--paved rail trail spanning the southeast quadrant of Live Oak. The northern terminus of the trail is located just off US 90 (known locally as East Howard Street) on Trailhead Avenue SE. Trailhead Avenue was apparently previously known as Cooper Street; your favorite map app may still know it by the the old name. There are a few paved parking spots at the trailhead and more than a few places where you can park in the grass along the trail. Alternatively, you could park a bit farther south along the trail at Heritage Park--but then you'd miss the Discovery Trail section of the path.
Discovery Trail is the name of the 700 yards of the Heritage Trail between East Howard Street and Helvenston Street. Every few yards along the way, the Suwanne River Regional Library System has a page of a book posted in a display. On the day of my visit the book was Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type. By the time we reached Helvenston Street we had discovered what had become of the typing cattle. Along the way the trail had passed from the open ground near the trailhead to a shady wooded area, and then into a forested swamp. Street lamps lined the trail.
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| The current south end of the trail |
South of Helvenston, the street lamps are gone and the pavement changes from concrete to blacktop. For a ways south, you can see Heritage Park through the trees on the east side of the trail. Trees surround the trail all the way to the next road crossing at Ada Street, not quite a mile from the trailhead. Between Ada Street and Miller Street, the trail leaves the old railroad bed and becomes a kind of sidewalk out in the sun along 109th Drive, a dirt road. South of Miller Street the trail returns to the rail route and to the woods. For the next 600 to 700 yards, you can see 109th Drive through the trees to the east and Jenkins Avenue through the trees to the west. Abruptly, you come to a cul de sac and the south end of the trail. There are paths leading from this terminus to both Jenkins and 109th, or you can turn around and go back.
The only lights are on the north end of the trail, but there are benches along the entire route--seven in all, each with its own trash can. The trash cans don't appear to be critter proof. Artwork is placed along the trail--quilt designs on the day I was there. Fences line both sides of the trail except at road crossings. The fences are low enough for pedestrians to step over, but are enough to discourage vehicles from getting onto the trail. Between the trail and the fences, there's a grassy shoulder wide enough to run or walk on if you're tired of pavement.
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| A milepost from railroad days along the Heritage Trail |
As a rail trail, the Heritage Trail is absolutely flat. The route had its origins in the 1880s, when railroad tycoon Henry Plant laid rails from Live Oak to Branford, Florida, the Live Oak and Rowlands Bluff Railroad. Later, this became part of Plant's Live Oak, Tampa, and Charlott Harbor Railroad. The road was acquired by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Coast Line, and CSX before being abandoned in the 1980s. South of Live Oak around Branford, the rail bed is being used for another paved rail trail, the twelve-and-a-half mile long Suwannee River Greenway. About twenty miles of new rail trail would connect the Heritage Trail to the Greenway, which in turn connects to the twelve miles of the Ichetucknee-to-O'Leno Trail. That would make for 45+ miles of bike trail, surely worth an overnight trip to Live Oak. However, the only extension in the works for the Heritage Trail is a short link to connect the north end of the trail with the downtown--City of Live Oak Community Redevelopment Agency's Heritage Square Master Plan. That plan was published in May 2018, so don't hold your breath.
Links
- More Trouble Afoot! photos of Live Oak, Florida's Heritage Trail on 26 February 2023
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10120530402665333
- Looking for races in Live Oak? Try the Trouble Afoot! calendar
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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