Before Canaveral National Seashore, there was Eldora. Established in 1882, the small waterfront village grew to a hundred people before a deep freeze destroyed their burgeoning citrus industry.
The town faded over time to a handful of homesteads, with the Eldora State House a restored example just a little north of this stop along the one-way Eldora Loop Road.
To showcase the coastal hammock which the village bordered, the half-mile Eldora Hammock Trail leads you into the natural beauty of these woods.
Start of the Eldora Hammock TrailResources
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Overview
Location: Apollo Beach, Canaveral National Seashore
Length: 0.5 mile loop
Trailhead: 28.90866, -80.81526
Address: 7611 S. Atlantic Ave, New Smyrna Beach
Fees: $25 per vehicle, receipt good for 7 days
Restrooms: At the visitor center
Land manager: National Park Service
Phone: 386-428-3384
Open sunrise to sunset. Leashed dogs permitted. Mosquitos can be fierce at certain times of year.
Directions
From Interstate 95 exit 249A for SR 44, follow SR 44 east into New Smyrna Beach for 5.2 miles to cross the causeway to the barrier island. The road will arc to the right, becoming A1A. Drive another 7 miles south to Canaveral National Seashore. Continue down the park road about 2.4 miles and turn right on Eldora Loop Road. Follow this one-way road past a parking area, service road, and a second parking area to the third parking area.
Hike
Starting at the Eldora Hammock Trail sign, follow the pathway into the coastal hammock. Oaks and red bay arch overhead. Continue straight ahead at the trail junction for the loop.
Carved through a dense thicket of saw palmetto, shrubs, and young trees, the natural-surface footpath curves past a V-shaped oak.
Narrow footpathStripped by hurricanes, the oak branches making up the high canopy have a roughed-up look. The lower canopy provides most of the shade.
Gently weaving through the forest, pass a bench. Not far beyond it, the footpath pops out into a sun-drenched corridor, turning grassy underfoot.
Bench along the pathMature saw palmetto sport a silvery tinge. Entering the shade of a palm hammock, note young sprouts of wild coffee and marlberry rising from the leaf litter.
A skunky smell infuses the forest from the Simpson’s stopper. More typical of tropical plum species found in South Florida, their smooth trunks draw attention easily.
A Simpson’s stopper leans over the trailPressing in more tightly, the hammock squeezes the trail into a narrow tunnel of vegetation, relaxing again.
Cabbage palms and oaks begin to dominate the forest, the oak limbs laden in resurrection fern.
Oaks and palmsA little under halfway through the half mile hike, a bench awaits in deep shade. Revealing blue skies on a sunny day, the canopy opens again, tall palms dominating for a stretch.
Enter more shade beneath the cover of red bay and oaks, passing the stub of a once-mighty tree in a small clearing, now a nursery for ferns.
Stubby trunk with crown of goldfoot fernThe long straightaway beyond creates a tunnel effect. Beyond a small stand of cedars, lose a little elevation as saw palmetto defines the corridor again.
Walking beneath live oaks and mulberry, marvel at the vibrant growth of Eldora Hammock.
In the dense habitatA missing interpretive sign marks a change in habitat, the surroundings growing drier briefly before another twist and turn through the shaded tunnel.
After the next bench, step out under open skies between walls of saw palmetto. Sparser here, singular oaks, cedars, and stopper reach for the sky.
The larger trees were stripped of upper branches during recent hurricanesDip into another tunnel of shade and out into the open before the final stretch between bluish-tinted saw palmetto.
One more shady tunnel, and the trail closes its loop. Turn left to exit this half mile hike.
Silver-blue tinged saw palmettoTrail Map
Explore More!
Learn more about Canaveral National Seashore
Canaveral National Seashore Canaveral National Seashore protects 58,000 acres of maritime hammocks, dunes, and coastline north of Cape Canaveral, a natural sandy cape that formed where ocean currents meet.Video
A walk through Eldora Hammock
Slideshow
See our photos from this hike
Nearby Adventures
Castle Windy At Canaveral National Seashore, Castle Windy is the only trail that takes you from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian River Lagoon, a shady walk through a coastal hammock to a windswept shoreline.
Eldora Village Settled in the late 1800s south of New Smyrna, Eldora thrived as a rural agricultural community for more than a decade. Today, the Eldora State House tells its story.
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