Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary

The Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary is a non profit retirement village for abused and neglected animals. The animals living at the Octagon were not taken out of the wild. They were rescued from businesses, circuses, individuals and even zoos. Many of them were confiscated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and/or USDA Federal officials and brought to the wildlife sanctuary where they get their "last chance" to live out their final days. 

If you're visiting or live in Southwest Florida and love animals, put the Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary on your list of places to visit. Bears, lions, tigers, and leopards are some of the more than 200 exotic animals you'll see and your admission fee will go towards the care of  these beautiful creatures.

The wildlife sanctuary, located off Highway 31 on Horseshoe Road in Charlotte County, is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. However, guided tours or weekday visits require advance appointments by calling 239-543-1130. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for seniors (55 and older)and children ages 8 to 17. Children under age 7 are free with a paying adult.

If you're unable to visit the wildlife sanctuary in person, please visit their website to learn more about the sanctuary and how to help with donations.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park is described in the state park brochure as an inspirational literary landmark. For a writer, it is indeed.

This famous author moved to Cross Creek in 1928 where she lived in her cracker style home for 25 years and wrote The Yearling, a Pulitzer prize novel. Both her house and farm yard have been restored to the original period and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2007.  Additionally, the US Postal Service released a Rawlings commemorative stamp in 2008 and Florida's governor honored her as a First Floridian in March 2009. 

Visitors to her homestead are greeted at the barn by rangers,dressed in 1930s period clothes and knowledgeable about her stories and her farm life, for guided tours through the farmhouse from October through July.

 
 The farm yard is also maintained as it was in 1930s complete with chickens and ducks and a garden bearing seasonal flowers, fruits and vegetables while the citrus grove still yields its annual crop.

Two trails lead into surrounding woods where bald eagles, sand hill cranes and deer as well as smaller creatures make their home. The tenant house is tucked between the grove and woods and is a restored tenant house moved from the neighboring Brice family home. It resembles the original Rawlings tenant house where both black and white employees lived while they worked on her farm and in her grove.

History buffs, writers, as well as, nature lovers will truly appreciate this park.