Just around the Riverbend ...Park offers natural delights: SouthFlorida.com

The area is best known as the site of the 1838 Battle of Loxahatchee, a clash that heralded the end of the Second Seminole War. But it was a center of settlement and a crossroads for South Florida Indian tribes long before then. Relics found buried here, some dating to 500 B.C., confirmed the existence of prehistoric Indian camps, and there are also the remains of a pioneer cabin and a rare mid-19th century Seminole encampment.

Welcome to Riverbend Park, a nature preserve of historical and ecological significance that has been the subject of three decades of conservation efforts in Palm Beach County.

This long-awaited park has opened in recent months to guided tours, but is probably best accessed by canoe. Eventually, the park will be an 800-acre gem that allows visitors to experience a Florida that used to be, a haven for birds, a home for deer, a place where the peace is disrupted only by the sound of the wind through the trees. Eventually it will be criss-crossed by trails for hiking, canoeing, and kayaking - and accessible for all. But that may be several years away. For now, getting a look at the park requires signing up for an organized program.

"Most of the canoe trails are blocked by trees that went down during the hurricanes, so you really need a guide," explains park supervisor John Wildner. "There are still bridges and culverts and trails that need to be constructed before [visitors] can go in without a guide."

Geographically, the park serves as the gateway to the Loxahatchee River, the first Florida waterway to be designated a National Wild and Scenic River. It also serves as part of the headwaters to the Northwest Fork of the Loxahatchee River, the only surviving example of a subtropical cypress river system in Florida.

The park is home to deer, wild turkeys, sandhill cranes, wood ducks and peacocks. Guided hikes with interpretive talks about the area's history and ecology are offered on weekend mornings; arrangements should be made in advance by calling 561-748-2028.

The county has spent about $3 million on the park, including restoring wetlands, removing invasive plants and constructing Seminole chickee hut shelters.

Efforts to preserve the land began in the 1970s when residents objected to a plan to put a trailer park on 175 acres in the area. In the 1980s, Palm Beach County and the South Florida Water Management District teamed to save another 600 acres that was slated for home development. The land had been drained for cattle ranching and orange groves, so restoring the natural water flow and ecology has been a slow process.

In the same way, the land now has to recover from the ravages of the past few hurricane seasons.

"It will take a little while for nature to take its course," Wildner said.

Luckily, Mother Nature has a lot to work with in this case.

"This is no small piece of property," Wildner said. "This is closer to what you would imagine a state park to be than a county park. We were lucky in Palm Beach County in that we were environmentally conscious while there were still some sections of land available to be saved."