Married to wealthy industrialist Alfred I. duPont, Jessie Ball duPont was a lifelong member of the Garden Club in Jacksonville.
In response to the club’s effort to save the Treaty Oak from being uprooted for downtown development, she purchased this patch of downtown Jacksonville in 1948 to preserve this iconic tree.
The Treaty Oak and its surrounding green space in downtownResources
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Overview
Location: Downtown Jacksonville
Trailhead: 30.316367, -81.657755
Address: 1123 Prudential Drive Jacksonville FL 32207
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land manager: City of Jacksonville
Phone: 904-630-2489
Open for daylight use. No skateboards or roller blading in park.
Directions
The Treaty Oak is along US 1 / US 90 in downtown Jacksonville, at the corner with SR 13. Follow any of those highways into downtown. Parking is street parking only and may be hard to find.
About the Park
In 1907, the Treaty Oak was bedecked in electric lights when electricity first came to Jacksonville.
Dixieland Park, an amusement park utilizing the new lights as attractions, opened around the Treaty Oak on downtown’s South Shore.
Entrance to the parkThe oak is known to be more than 200 years old. When the Garden Club started its effort to save the tree, they enlisted the help of Pat Moran, a Jacksonville Times Union Reporter.
He started the rumor (with no substantiation) that the tree was the site of treaty negotiations between native peoples and settlers, and first called it the Treaty Oak.
Although all the signs around it say Treaty Oak Park and all the locals call it that, the City of Jacksonville official calls this small urban green space Jessie Ball duPont Park in Mrs. DuPont’s honor.
One of the original Treaty Oak Park signsAt her personal estate, Epping Forest, she had cultivated gardens and kept the grand live oaks on the property.
Her foundation conveyed this land to the City of Jacksonville in 1964 for use only as a public park to preserve the Treaty Oak.
Picnic tables and benches surround the tree, providing a comfortable green space in the center of the city to enjoy.
Residents enjoy the Treaty Oak todayExplore More!
Slideshow
See our photos of Jessie Ball duPont Park
Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Arlington Park
A breezy walk along the St. Johns River is an easy way to start your day in Jacksonville at the Arlington Lions Club Park, with riverside boardwalks and a mile of trails
Yellow Bluff Fort Historic State Park
On a peninsula near the mouth of the St. Johns River, Yellow Bluff Fort Historic State Park protects a slice of Florida history from the War Between the States.
Fort Caroline
At the site of the original French settlement in Florida, explore the rich natural and cultural history of the region at the Timucuan Preserve visitor center, Fort Caroline, and its interpretive nature trail.
Ribault Monument
On a high bluff above the St. Johns River, a memorial pays tribute to the French expedition led by Jean Ribault that claimed Florida for France in 1562, three years before St. Augustine was founded.