Last week our plans to meet up with friends in Lakeland were rained out so we took the afternoon to go on an adventure at Fort Cooper State Park. Even less-known than Dade Battlefield, it is a small state park denoting a fort and battle from the Second Seminole War. Additionally it gave us the opportunity to check another stop off on our quest to earn our Florida Junior Ranger pin. If you are a history buff like me or just enjoy viewing nature you should consider a visit.
As we mentioned on back when we visited Dade Battlefield, we have begun exploring some of the Florida State Parks while work on the Florida Jr. Ranger Program. Today we took one of the printed up sheets about recreation and learned a little more about the playgrounds and why there are rules for the state parks. Then at the park, the kids turned in their activities sheets in exchange for stamping their passports.
One reason that we chose to visit Fort Cooper last week was in order to take advantage of the Seminole Heritage trail. This is an approximately 1 mile trail out to the historic location of the fort. Along the trail are four kiosk which provide information on the Seminole people. The first detailed the original Indians in the area, and how groups of Creek and Muskogean speaking peoples moved into Northern Florida. The second kiosk focused on how those people were relocated in the Treaty of Moultrie Creek to swampy areas in central Florida, and how their culture and livelihood had to completely change. The third Kiosk was an overview of the Seminole Wars which we've already studied at length. Our final kiosk detailed the specifics of Fort Cooper and the conflict that occurred in this area of the Old Military Road.
During the Second Seminole War, things weren't going well initially for the Americans. General Winfield Scott (who's name you might recognize from your Civil War Studies) led 5,000 troops into Florida marching to Fort Brook (in present day Tampa). Along the way he made the decision to leave his wounded and sick men near a lake under the command of Major Cooper. He had plans to return in 9 days. For protection Major Cooper had a fort built of wooden palisade walls. It was a wise decision as just a few days later several hundred Seminoles lead by Osceola arrived in the area and promptly attacked the fort. They attacked for 16 days forcing the 380 men in the fort to slaughter their horses for food. However, reinforcements finally arrived and the Seminoles melted back into the thick forest and swamps of Florida. In December, troops began driving the Seminoles out of Withlacoochee Cove. Over the next five years the fort was used periodically for reconnaissance and a dispatch post.
Today, the state park service has a short pine picket wall standing where the southwestern corner of the fort stood. The kids enjoyed looking at what the quickly assembled fort would have looked like, and had lots of questions such as why the logs have thin spacing between them. We talked about both the architecture as well as the need for rifle slits in order to fire at an attacking enemy. While walking out to the fort grounds we read the kiosk signs and on the way back to the playground we discussed what we had learned. The kids then played on the playground a little over an hour as the threatening rain clouds moved out without drenching us.
After that long break we took off to locate a nearby geocache in the hollow of a stump. It was an easy but fun geocache. We had a nice if somewhat short afternoon, calling it a day after stopping back by the ranger station to get our Jr. Ranger stamps. There are a couple of other trails in the area that highlight the natural beauty of the Withlacoochee Cove, and a bat house among other attractions, but we decided since it was already late in the afternoon and since Fort Cooper is so near to our house we might visit those again another day.
If you'd like to make a trip the address to the park is 3100 S. Old Floral City Road, Inverness, Florida. The park is open from 8 to sunset daily. Entrance to the Park is $3 for a car load of up to 8 people.
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