Margaret Shippen Roebling
Whether they were urban legends or there was some truth to it, stories abounded in the past about how con artists sold the Brooklyn Bridge to unfortunate individuals who ended up only with a reduced bank account.
But, there’s no doubt that there’s somewhat of a link between Highlands Hammock State Park and the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s part of the wealth of history surrounding Highlands Hammock State Park. Few people know about the connection and many may not realize the park played a key role in the Florida State Park system. They also may not know the connection between Highlands Hammock State Park and the Archbold Biological Station.
In fact, according to Darrel Smith, a retired park ranger and the first curator of the park’s museum, it was the first state park created in Florida.
How Highlands Hammock Park was created is in itself a somewhat complicated story, according to Smith, and local historian Allen Altvater III, whose grandfather was superintendent at Highlands Hammock State Park from 1935 to 1941.
It’s also not well known that the park once included a botanical garden.
Today, many people associate the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to provide jobs during the Depression, with the construction of the park.
However, although the CCC members constructed the picnic area in the park, including buildings, much of the CCC work was done in the area outside the actual hammock.
It was through the support of Margaret Shippen Roebling and her family, as well as the Sebring community, that a substantial portion of the park was completed. Her husband’s grandfather designed and helped construct the Brooklyn Bridge.
Smith said the history leading up to the creation of the first state park began around 1930 when “a local lawyer set up a corporation, Florida Tropical Parks Association, for the local residents who were trying to get possession of 1,200-plus acres of beautiful natural Florida that was controlled by the land business” at the time of the Depression.
He indicated that Margaret Shippen Roebling, a naturalist, became acquainted with the effort through her son, who knew the Sebring family.
It’s believed that she flew into Sebring with her son and agreed soon afterwards to pay $25,000 in 1930 dollars to buy the land.
After she provided the money, “20-plus cowboys were quickly hired to start clearing trails and forming the park,” Smith said.
And even back then there were similar concerns to today’s debate over the benefits of automation verses the elimination of jobs.
“Mrs. Roebling had requested when she wrote that check that they not spend money on mechanical equipment as ‘too many men needed work,’” Smith stated in a history document.
By fall, Altvater said, the work continued, but the money was running short. The Florida Tropical Parks Association asked for another $25,000, he said.
But, Roebling balked at just handing over another $25,000, Altvater said.
“She didn’t want to do it all,” he said.
Instead, she offered that if residents raised $5,000, she would provide another $25,000, he said. It took only two weeks for that to happen, he said.
But, she never lived to see the completion of the park. She died shortly after that and her husband, John A. Roebling II, continued supporting the work on the park so that it would be a memorial to her.
John A. Roebling II donated Highlands Hammock Park to the state soon after the Florida Legislature approved creation of the state park system.
At the time of Margaret Roebling’s death, the Roebling family was building a winter home south of Lake Placid. John A. Roebling II sold the property and a storage building to Richard Archbold for $1. That eventually became Archbold Research Center.
The Roebling family was a prominent family of industrialists and engineers. Smith said that inheritance money from the Brooklyn Bridge project that John Roebling designed and helped build helped the family later invest in Highlands Hammock State Park.
Another part of the history of Highlands Hammock State Park is that it once had a botanical garden developed by the Gardens Clubs of Florida.
In 1941, the park closed temporarily because the Civil Conservation Corps had left the park. Altvater said that although the park was closed people would visit. They removed many of the plants in the botanical garden.
THIS CACHE IS LOCATED WITHIN HIGHLANDS HAMMOCK STATE PARK. THE PARK IS OPEN FROM 8AM TIL SUNSET, 365/6 DAYS A YEAR, INCLUDING ALL HOLIDAYS. THERE IS A FEE TO ENTER THE PARK.