Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park

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Alfred B Maclay Gardens State Park
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Alfred B Maclay Gardens State Park
Location Leon County, Florida, USA
Nearest city Tallahassee, Florida
Coordinates 30°31′08″N 84°15′04″W / 30.51889, -84.25111
Area 28 acres
Established 1953
Governing body Florida Department of Environmental Protection

The Alfred B. Maclay State Gardens is a 28 acre Florida State Park, botanical garden and historic site, located in Tallahassee, in northwestern Florida. The address is 3540 Thomasville Road.

The gardens are also a U.S. historic district known as the Killearn Plantation Archeological and Historic District. It received that designation on August 16, 2002. According to the National Register of Historic Places, it contains 18 historic buildings, 4 structures and 4 objects.

Contents

[edit] History

The gardens began in 1923 when Alfred Barmore Maclay (1871-1944) and his wife, Louise Fleischman, bought the site. Maclay named his gardens Killearn, after the birth place of his great-grandfather in Scotland, and developed them continuously until his death. His wife continued their development, opened them to the public in 1946, and in 1953 donated some 307 acres of their estate, including the gardens, to the Florida Board of Park Service. In 1965 the gardens were renamed in Maclay's honor.

[edit] Biology

Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park with Lake Hall in background, September 2007.
Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park with Lake Hall in background, September 2007.

The backbone of the garden plantings are azaleas and camellias. Trees include bald cypress, black gum, cyrilla, dogwood, hickory, holly, Japanese maple, oak, plum, redbud, sweetgum, and Torreya taxifolia. Other plantings include ardisia, aucuba, coontie, Chapman's rhododendron, gardenia, ginger, jasmine, Oriental magnolia, mountain laurel, nandina, palmetto, sago palm, selaginella, wisteria, and yucca filamentosa.

[edit] Lakes

[edit] Recreational Activities

The park has such amenities as bicycling, birding, boating, canoeing, fishing, hiking, horse trails, kayaking, picnicking areas and swimming. It also has a museum with interpretive exhibits.

[edit] Hours

The gardens are open daily; an entrance fee is charged all year.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] References and external links