Fort Center Trail

The Fort Center site at Fisheating Creek WMA is documented as possibly the first place in the eastern part of our continent where people grew corn.

A variety of mounds, ditches, embankments, and ponds were built in these prairies along Fisheating Creek as part of a village occupied between 1000 and 500 B.C.

The Fisheating Creek basin at Fort Center

In 1835, during the Second Seminole War, a fort palisade was built and named after Lieutenant J.P. Center, hence the name.

The trail system is comprised of two parts—a linear 3.5 mile round-trip on a dirt road and a mile nature trail loop through the shady cabbage palm and oak hammock.

Dense hardwood hammock at the village site

Resources

Resources for exploring the area

South Florida Explorers Guide book cover

Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

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Overview

Location: Lakeport
Length: 5 mile round-trip and loop
Trailhead: 26.950668, -81.135548
Fees: Free
Restroom: Composting toilet at the trailhead
Land manager: Florida FWC
Phone: 850-488-4676

Open dawn to dusk. Leashed dogs permitted. Trails are open to off-road cyclists. You may also encounter airboaters at the far end of the trail along Fisheating Creek.

Seasonal hunting occurs on Fisheating Creek WMA. Check hunting seasons in advance and wear bright orange if hiking during hunts.

Directions

From US 441 in Okeechobee, follow SR 78 west to Lakeport, or from US 27 in Moore Haven, follow SR 78 east to Lakeport. Look for the turnoff for Banana Grove Road on the north side of the road, between two branches of Fisheating Creek. There is a sign at the entrance “Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area.” Follow the unpaved road for about a mile to and park at the first the trailhead parking area on the left.

Hike

Markers lead from the parking area across the road on an accessible path to an observation deck overlooking a wet prairie.

Take a moment to stop here and scan the scenery, since it includes a lazy meander of Fisheating Creek. It’s an excellent spot for birding.

Birding overlook

As the trail leaves the observation deck, it turns right, leading past the second trailhead. Follow the gravel road through a gate by the manager’s house and work area.

Continue into an open prairie with a large slough on the opposite side of the fence, obscured by swamp sunflowers blooming en masse in October.

Swamp sunflowers

It’s a long, straight, flat walk through a classic Okeechobee prairie, broad and open, dotted with cabbage palms.

Slight depressions along the road create tiny depression marshes where aquatic plants thrive, and a ditch with lance-leaved arrowhead parallels the trail.

Straightaway

Shaded benches have detailed interpretive information on this preserve and its long history of human habitation.

The name Fort Center comes from a Third Seminole War fort erected on the site, built out of cabbage palm logs.

Interpretive sign

This is high ground in a vast floodplain between the arms of Fisheating Creek where it ends its meandering course at Lake Okeechobee.

Thus the reason for its long-time occupation by a variety of civilizations.

Open prairie

The trail jogs left and enters the shade of oaks as it approaches the start of the loop. Pass through a gap in a fence, marking the high ground and protected zone of Fort Center.

At 1.6 miles, turn left off this road onto the nature trail loop. It’s narrow but obvious, marked with hiker symbols.

Nature Trail marker

It meanders along a ranch fence before reaching a large willow marsh. The high ground with its ancient oaks and the site of the ancient village are on the right.

This path circles its edge, rounding a large depression marsh and slipping through the thick understory of saw palmetto. Bromeliads dangle from the trees.

Oak hammock

After 2.4 miles the nature trail emerges at an intersection with the main trail, finishing its jug handle route.

Continue straight ahead for a sweeping view of Fisheating Creek from a high embankment.

Embankment above Fisheating Creek

The trail continues to a picnic table under an oak tree, kindly placed there by members of the Lakeport Airboaters’ Club.

Loop around here and head back along the creek to the intersection with the main trail. Turn left.

Airboats lined up along Fisheating Creek

Beneath the cool canopy of live oaks, explore the ancient village site at Fort Center. It began as a settlement of what archaeologists call the Belle Glade people, dating to 1000 B.C.

It is thought that these people, who dug ditches and built mounds to live on above the floodplain, might have been the first to cultivate corn in the Americas.

Look for a narrow path on the left. It’s not marked, but it leads beneath wild citrus trees and climbs up a mound surrounded by forest. Return the way you came.

One of the interpreted mounds

Farther down the main trail, there is a more obvious short path on the right to an interpretive spot. Between 200-800 A.D., a pond was intentionally constructed in the low spot.

One amazing artifact found within this pond was an elaborately carved wooden platform used for ceremonial cremation. Remains were interred in the adjoining mound.

Hardwood forest with two track sand trail

The village site is now a dense hardwood hammock

Return to the main trail, walking under both a canopy of live oaks and a lower canopy of very old citrus trees.

Since citrus was brought to the New World by the Spanish in the 1500s, it’s possible this wild grove is one of the oldest in Florida.

We sampled a handful of fruits and found them to be very unusual. The lemons and limes were tasty, not tart, and the grapefruit tasted sweet.

Tall grapefruit trees amid the live oaks

Watch for the final side trail on your left, leading to the largest mound. The interpretive panels tell the history of native occupation of this settlement through the 1700s.

The Fort Center complex has been of great interest to archaeologists for more than a century. Well-documented artifacts removed include pottery, tools, bones, and carvings.

Many are displayed at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville and at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, in the Tallant Collection gallery.

Some of the artifacts on display in Gainesville

Returning to the main trail, turn left. Within a few minutes, you leave the shade of the oak hammock and seal the loop at the nature trail junction at 3.4 miles.

Continue straight ahead, passing through the fenceline, and follow the obvious dirt road through the vast open prairie to the trailhead to complete this 5 mile hike.

Cyclists and hikers looking at a kiosk in a prairie

Visitors pausing at an interpretive kiosk

Trail Map

Explore More!

Learn more about Fisheating Creek WMA

Fisheating Creek WMA In the wilds of South Central Florida, Fisheating Creek has always been a favorite for paddlers. Four trails also provide access for hikers to enjoy these lush surroundings on foot.

Slideshow

See our photos from this hike

Nearby Adventures

More worth exploring nearby

Gatorama Started in 1957 as a roadside attraction to show tourists one of the two Florida experiences they wanted - alligators! - Gatorama still has that funky Old Florida feel.

Sun peeping above fog against a panorama of plants

Florida Trail, Moore Haven to Lakeport Leaving the Caloosahatchee River to dip through the Fisheating Creek floodplain, this hike on the western side of Lake Okeechobee is all about the marshes.

Florida Trail, Lakeport to Indian Prairie 11.9 miles. In the sweep of the Herbert Hoover Dike past Lakeport, the Florida Trail overlooks the vast western marshes of Lake Okeechobee.

Ortona Mounds While less than a mile long, the Ortona Mounds Trail in the ranchlands of Glades County takes you back to a time more than 3,000 years ago.

Trail Map (PDF) Hunt Dates Official Website