Within forty minutes of the boardwalk sit five serious parks — two state parks with campgrounds and ruins, a county dune park, a formal-gardens state park, and a free county garden with dinosaurs. This guide films them all.

Full Tour of Tomoka State Park | Ormond Beach, Florida & VERY IMPORTANT message on camping safety

Amy A Tangerine

Amy A Tangerine's full tour of Tomoka State Park — her favorite Florida state park — built around the campground: site 90's shade and privacy, the bath houses, 30/20-amp hookups, the fire rings, and a serious safety message drawn from her own camping experience that opens the film. Long, personal and thorough; the most complete single look at camping Tomoka in this set.

Key takeaways
  • Campground-first tour: sites, bath houses, hookups
  • Shade is the headline amenity in Florida heat
  • Filmed in 2026; includes the creator's camping-safety message

Camping at Tomoka State Park, Florida | Full Campground Tour & Review

St. Augustine TV

St. Augustine TV camps Tomoka State Park and tours it for fellow RVers: a park set between two rivers with water access everywhere, the Tomoka Outpost general store, kayak rentals up the street, hardwood-hammock trails and a second trail system across the river. Their verdict after years of Florida camping: one of their favorite local parks, and an easy getaway from St. Augustine.

Key takeaways
  • Campground tour made for RV site-pickers
  • Outpost store and kayak access highlighted
  • Trails run through hardwood hammock along the water

Bulow Creek State Park and the Fairchild Oak (the oldest living oak tree in Florida)

Relic Rescue USA

Relic Rescue USA's Bulow Creek film (recovered English transcript — the first pull returned a foreign track) is a 'real Florida' walk through the park to the Fairchild Oak, framed by the channel as the oldest living oak in Florida. Park materials put the great oak at roughly 400–600 years old — treat any single number, plaque included, as an estimate — but by any count it ranks among Florida's largest and oldest live oaks, and the film pairs the tree with the park's trails and creek scenery.

Key takeaways
  • The Fairchild Oak: among Florida's largest and oldest live oaks
  • Age estimates vary (roughly 400–600 years) — no single figure is certain
  • Day-use park of trails, creek views and deep hammock shade

The campers' parks

Tomoka State Park gets two full tours: the campground-first film (site 90's shade, hookups, and its creator's earnest camping-safety message) and an RVer's review (the Outpost store, kayak access, a second trail system across the river — 'one of our favorite local parks'). Bulow Creek's pair of films walk to the Fairchild Oak through 5,600 acres of hammock, and the Bulow ruins film covers the plantation site its trail connects to.

The garden and the dunes

Washington Oaks appears twice too — the VISIT FLORIDA portrait (rose gardens, coquina beach, 'an oasis of peace') and the slow bird-song stroll. Smyrna Dunes is the county entry: 184 acres, two miles of boardwalk, $10 a vehicle as filmed.

Fairchild Oak at Bulow Creek State Park - Oldest Live Oak Tree in Florida

ChadGallivanter

Chad Gallivanter's focused visit to the Fairchild Oak bills it as Florida's oldest live oak and walks the short path to the tree, taking in its immense spread and the park bulletin context around it. A tight, single-subject film — the oak itself is the attraction, and this is the clearest look at it in the set.

Key takeaways
  • Single-subject film: the Fairchild Oak up close
  • Short, easy walk from the parking area to the tree
  • The oak's canopy spread is the spectacle

Bulow Plantation Ruins ~ Flagler County, Florida

East Florida Explorer

A Florida history channel's deep dive on Bulow Plantation: Charles Bulow's 1821 purchase of 4,600+ acres on Bulow Creek, the ~200 enslaved people in 46 cabins who cleared half of it for sugar, indigo, cotton and rice, and Bulowville's status as the largest sugar plantation in East Florida. The film follows the January 1836 burning by Seminole forces at the onset of the Second Seminole War — a glow reportedly visible from St. Augustine — and walks today's 150-acre park: coquina mill ruins on a concrete walkway, wells, spring house, mansion and cabin foundations, picnic grounds and the 6.8-mile trail to Bulow Creek State Park.

Key takeaways
  • Largest sugar plantation in East Florida in its day
  • Burned January 1836 at the start of the Second Seminole War
  • Ruins are walkway-accessible; a 6.8-mile trail links to Bulow Creek State Park

Florida Travel: Visit Washington Oaks Gardens State Park

VISIT FLORIDA

VISIT FLORIDA's portrait of Washington Oaks Gardens State Park in Palm Coast, through the visitors who love it: formal rose gardens and exotic plantings, hiking and biking trails, fishing on the Intracoastal, the park's small history museum, and picnic spots under the oaks — 'an oasis of peace' an hour up the coast from Daytona Beach.

Key takeaways
  • The park pairs formal gardens with a wild coquina-rock beach across A1A
  • Visitors fish the Intracoastal side and picnic under the live oaks
  • A small museum covers the Young estate's history

The free outlier

Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens closes the page: a county park, free, volunteer-run, where an 1830s mill ruin shares twelve acres with Bongoland's concrete dinosaurs. Between state, county and volunteer-run, the Daytona park system covers every budget including zero.

Sources: the 9 videos on this page, filmed at parks across Volusia and Flagler counties; prices as filmed.

Watch: Daytona Beach State Parks Guide, guided

3 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Stroll through the Garden, Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Florida (USA)

Dr. Brenda U

A slow garden stroll through Washington Oaks with Dr. Brenda U — the rose garden, reflecting ponds and oak hammock paths, carried by birdsong and the park's quiet rather than commentary.

Smyrna Dunes Park- The Beaches, Pier, Jetty, and Boardwalk. in New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Off Our Couch

Off Our Couch's full tour of Smyrna Dunes Park covers the 184-acre inlet park on the south side of Ponce de Leon Inlet in New Smyrna Beach: more than 2 miles of boardwalk with overlooks onto the Atlantic, the Indian River and the inlet. Entry was $10 per vehicle as filmed (with a veteran discount shown), and the walk runs from the entrance pavilion out to the south jetty — past gopher tortoises feeding beside the boardwalk — where the dog-friendly beach section and the inlet fishing draw crowds.

Key takeaways
  • 184-acre Volusia County park on the inlet's south shore in New Smyrna Beach
  • 2+ miles of elevated boardwalk with ocean, river and inlet overlooks
  • Dog-friendly beach by the south jetty; gopher tortoises live in the dunes

Forgotten Florida: The Ruins Of BONGOLAND & Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens

ViewFromTheCheapSeats

A morning walk through Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens in Port Orange covers both of the site's personalities: the coquina-era sugar mill ruins from its plantation days and the concrete-and-chicken-wire dinosaurs left from Bongoland, the small theme park that operated here from 1948 to 1952. The free, county-owned park packs a numbered map of dozens of stops — the giant ground sloth propped against its tree, a fairy garden, a gnome home and native plant areas — into a quiet neighborhood setting, with a pointed warning to stay on the paths because of the poison ivy.

Key takeaways
  • Free Volusia County park in Port Orange with sugar mill ruins and gardens
  • Bongoland (1948–1952) concrete dinosaurs still stand among the plantings
  • Numbered map at the entrance; stay on paths — poison ivy is common

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