Between Sarasota and Venice, tucked between neighborhoods and the steady hum of U.S. 41, lies one of Florida’s most surprising pockets of wilderness: Oscar Scherer State Park.
It should not exist, at least not in the way it does. This 1,400-acre tract somehow preserves the rarest habitats in the state — Florida scrub, longleaf pine flatwoods, freshwater lakes, tannin streams, and oak hammocks — in a region better known for beaches and winter crowds.
But the park does exist, and it holds itself with quiet confidence. Florida scrub jays flit across sandy trails. Gopher tortoises dig burrows beside palmettos. Bicyclists glide through on the Legacy Trail. And the calm waters of Lake Osprey glow under blue skies that seem to widen over the park’s open landscape…