Lettuce Lake Park remains a top destination after 40 years

TAMPA, Fla. - A Bay Area man with a passion for nature is responsible for Tampa’s most popular park. 

In 1977 a $10 million bond was issued and Joel Jackson was given a clean slate to design several Bay Area parks, including Lettuce Lake Park.

It opened in 1982 and on its second day, the park reached capacity. 

"The really exciting thing is people began coming here because they enjoyed seeing all the wildlife, especially from the boardwalk and observation tower," Jackson said.  

With about 25,000 acres of conservation land, it still remains the most visited park in Hillsborough County and it’s one of the top ten places for tourists to visit.

Visitors can see wildlife such as alligators from the boardwalk at Lettuce Lake Park. 

"I tried to make it easy for people when they came here to get a feel for the park and move around and enjoy it," Jackson explained. "When they’re enjoying it, they’re learning from it."

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The park features wooded picnic areas and playgrounds, a 1.25-mile paved exercise trail and a 3500-foot boardwalk with an observation tower that provides scenic views of the Hillsborough River.

Lettuce Lake Park has a 1.25 mile paved exercise trail in addition to a boardwalk. 

"I feel so much gratitude. This park is here and it will stay here. There won’t be any highways or anything coming through here and that means an awful lot knowing that 50 years down the road, 100 years down the road, it’s still going to be here."

In honor of Jackson, the nature center at Lettuce Lake Conservation Park was dedicated and renamed after him, so his legacy could live on forever at the park.