Audubon Pennington Park
1153 Alton Road
Port Charlotte

Visitors describe the beautiful park as the hidden gem of Port Charlotte! Local visitor guides claim that it is one of the best quiet urban parks in the state!  Florida Weekly newspaper recommends the park in its New Comers Guide.

 

Audubon Pennington Park is a 7.9 acre park that Charlotte County leases to the Peace River Audubon Society. Maintenance is provided by PRAS volunteers and the County. The park features cypress swamp, oak hammock, and pine flatwoods and the amenities include a parking lot, trails, and a few scattered benches but lacks restrooms.

 

 

This trail loops around a small island between two canals. The dirt and sand paths pass the Pennington Memorial and wind through an oak hammock, pinewood flats, and a cypress swamp. The timber canopy completely shades the trail, and the ground and trees are filled with wildlife and an impressive diversity of plant life, including Gopher tortoise, lizards, colorful insects, and many bird species

​

 

​In 1984 General Development Corporation (GDC) deeded approximately 10 acres of land on a peninsula to Charlotte County and Commissioner Tom Frame brought it to the attention of Peace River Audubon. GDC had planned to create a lake but decided that it was too expensive and the peninsula had some old growth trees. The county was interested in creating an urban park which would cost less to develop so Peace River Audubon volunteered to help develop a plan. Some Peace River Audubon members (Francis G. McGovern, Charles Derrick, Charlie Caniff and Dave Wilson) held several planning meetings and took tree inventories of the area. Then they bought 70 Slash Pine seedlings and 70 Long Leaf Pine seedlings to be planted in 1988 to create a Pine Flatwoods landscape. They discovered an upland area with Maple, Salt Bush and Cabbage Palm which was home to five Gopher Tortoises. They explored a transitional area with Dahoon Hollies, Live Oak, Laurel Oak, Elm, Red Maple, Sweet Gum and Southern Cedar and Southern Wax Myrtle. The peninsula is surrounded by the Elkcam waterway canal on three sides ending in a southern cypress swamp. In 1989, a retired teacher from Sallie Jones Elementary School named Betty Pennington donated her properties in the nearby community of Cleveland to Peace River Audubon. The Audubon used the proceeds of the sale of her properties to develop this urban park since her lots were residential lawns. Charlotte County and Peace River Audubon named the park Audubon Pennington Park in her honor. A Laurel Oak Tree was planted and her memorial sign was erected in the park. It is a unique urban park with an undisturbed hammock of old live oak trees, a pine flatwoods area and a small cypress swamp. 3/4 mile of trails were established through the three elevations. Peace River Audubon entered into a 99 year lease with the county to manage the land as a natural area for $1 a year.