When I learned about the Enchanted Forest I thought it would be the perfect to near Halloween experience. What better then to walk in a forest on a cool autumn night? When I read about this place it truly has a fascinating history. Perhaps its one of the more hidden jewels in the state. Its one of these places that is easily missed with one road going into 393 acres of ancient oaks and forestry.

The Sanctuary was the first property purchased by the Environmentally Endangered Lands also known as EEL. This is the EEL program's flagship sanctuary which contains sever miles of hiking trails. The visitors center contains two classrooms, a reference library, various exhibits, amphitheatre and the very well known Enchanted Crossing.

The highest point Brevard County Florida is within the Enchanted Forest which is roughly 25 feet above sea level. An ancient Coquina Ridge as also present here as you descend to 15 to 20 feet deep from desert like scrub into the Mesic Hammock Canopies. At one time this area use to be a giant sand dune now its a place of much wildlife and botanical treasures. The sand is well present in some areas of the forest. 

There are two things however in history that make the Enchanted Forest more well known. First is the Hernandez Trail which was a road built in 1837. At that time there were no wagon roads, rail roads, intracoastal waterways just Indian trails which were deadly for some travelers as the Seminole Indians were being pushed further towards the Everglades. 

Areas like Cape Canaveral, Titusville, Indian River, New Smyrna etc were very uninhabited areas. These were areas with many Indian Shell Middens that had been occupied for years. With the second Seminole war occurring the US Army asked Joseph M. Hernandez a life long resident of St. Augustine and Brigadier General Of The Army he was asked to build a road. This building of the road led to Hernandez capturing Seminole Chief Osceola in 1837. 

The army wanted a road built to transport soldiers and freight without having to take such Indian trails. At the time the Hernandez road was to be the first of its kind to have gone from St. Augustine to Ft. Pierce Florida.

The road was built to roughly 16 feet wide big enough for mule wagons, ox carts, horse carriages and would be over 200 miles along. The road would connection forts and even towns which would colonize the south much where the Seminoles inhabited. The road was built by Hernandez and his men. They had to cut down trees, burn brush etc just to from the road. As they began building the road further south problems increased with attacks from the Seminoles, Panthers, Alligators, Malaria from mosquitoes, boars, humidity, illness and fatigue.

The road was to be built along the prehistoric dune line known as the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. Part of that road is preserved in the Enchanted Forest. But before it was even a solid road the Timucuan's, Ais, and Seminole Indians used it to migrate. Prior to Hernandez building this road the part in the Enchanted Forest previous was partially cleared and blazed by Col. James Gadsden's soldiers.

The road was heavily used in 1938 then after that before the railroad came as well as other wagon trails to the area. The road was heavily used by immigrants after 1938 because it connected to the Capron Trail. So many took these roads to reach there new homesteads and settle various lands.

In 1854 the Haulover Canal was built, then came the railroads, paved highways and the Hernandez Road became very forgotten. It was used to drive cattle to the market all the way up to the 1940s but other then that only a few segments are preserved in Brevard County one of them being in the Enchanted Forest. I mean much of the road looks the same as 150 years ago but perhaps back then it was creepier cause you never knew if you would be attacked by Indians, wild animals etc Florida was a world of its own with many lands unexplored at that time.

One of the most important parts of history to the area was the Addison Canal which was supposedly dug in 1912-13 by a man named Edgar W. Ellis. Not much information is available on the canal but he was meant to be used to transport crops and other goods in the St. Johns River Valley. The valley was supposed to be drained then the land was going to be sold to farmers. Some even suspected that Ellis wanted to connect the Indian River to the St. Johns River.

Ellis incorporated the Titusville Fruit and Farm Lands Company along with C. J. West and J.H. Beckwith in 1911. They acquired 22,500 acres a western portion of the old Delespine Grant. The canal was to be dug from east of the St. Johns River marshes through the Great Outdoors RV Restort along the south border of the Blue Heron Water Reclamation Facility through the Windover Development.  Then it cuts west of Grissom Road northeast to the Enchanted Forest where it turns east ending just past the Scrub/Coquina ridge at Addison Creek. The original plan however was to follow the creek and later end it at the Indian River at Addison Point which never happened.

The entire area was marshland and sand ridges which to dig the canal was fairly easy. Two pieces of equipment were uses which says that Ellis used the same equipment that was used in the Panama Canal Project which was abandoned by French Engineers. The whole main story to it all however is that the digging of the canal ending when they reached the Enchanted forest. The Coquina Ridge which cuts down the center of the forest was impossible to get past.

They wanted to dig through the ridge but the equipment broke down as they tried to cut through the gorge. Since the company also went broke they were not able to finance the continuance of the building of the canal so they had to abandoned the project. The canal did not reach a useful depth and ended east of the ridge in Addison Creek. 

Today what is left from the canal building and farming is a Muscatine grape vine covered field east of the ridge. In the 1940's it was used as fill for the runways at the Naval Air Station which is just across from the Enchanted forest or known as the Space Coast Regional Airport. At one time the canal was big enough to fish and swim in today its just a small steady flow of water.

The Canal originates from a pond near by and a marshy area north of canal just west of the ridge. They say because the canal was never completed it has caused a hydrology disruption to the St. Johns River. Some say if the canal was completed that salt water would have intruded onto the farm lands causing crops to spoil.

At one time there was an area where the gorge was 40 feet deep and people use to throw there trash into it. There was once an event where an old car was pushed off the edge into the canal. The car or at least parts of it still sit down in the gorge today.

Then in the 1960s a cut was made by the Apollo Motorcycle Club as a place known as the Swings. This is a place where they constructed various riding trails. One of the most popular called Pumpkin Run was started. Today its still a very big events. At the Swings there still is a cable strung from a branch about 100 feet above the canal. People would swing from one end to the other many had gotten broken bones. I do not know if any deaths had occurred though. 

We did not find the swings I was hoping to cause I wanted to swing like Tarzan across but the area is still used for many family gatherings, church picnics and even on Halloween local kids lined the road along the canal with carved lighted pumpkins. 

Today along the ridge little caves exist and you can see shell embedded in the walls of the gorge. All this history in just a small little forest really makes it an interesting place. We even found some very large panther tracks so yes they do roam this forest as they watch silently for there prey.

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Rick-Lord Of Thy Night