Tomoka Basin State Parks – Bulow Creek State Park

LOCATION

3351 Old Dixie Highway
Ormond Beach FL 32174

VIEW MAP

PHONE

386-676-4050

CALL NOW

WEBSITE

floridastateparks.org

BROWSE

WEBSITE

@FriendsofTomokaBasinStateParks

LIKE PAGE

HOURS

8:00 a.m. to sundown,
365 days a year

ADMISSION

No entrance fee
is required to
enter this park.

Containing one of the largest stands of southern live oak remaining on the east coast of Florida, the park's "star" is the Fairchild Oak. Over four centuries old, it is among the largest of its kind in the southern United States. It was a seedling around 1600-1620 CE when the Spanish were colonizing La Florida, and when the Timucua lived along the Tomoka River and the marshes and creeks later named Bulow. Known locally as the Ormond Oak for at least a century, the tree was christened Fairchild on December 11, 1955, in honor of Dr. David Fairchild, a world-famous botanist and naturalist who was fond of the tree.

It is said James Ormond II and the future Seminole leader Coacoochee, or Wildcat as he also was called, were childhood friends who spent endless hours playing under the Fairchild Oak and climbing its highest branches. Later, they would fight against each other in the battle of Dunlawton during the Second Seminole War. James Ormond II is laid to rest in a tomb not far from the Fairchild Oak, and atop what many believe to be a Timucua burial mound.


page information credit: Florida State Parks, Friends of the Tomoka Basin State Parks, City of Ormond Beach, Florida, "Fairchild Oak A Sturdy Witness To Much History" By Dana Ste. Claire
photos from the sources listed above, as well as publicly posted online sites with thanks to the contributors