02 A Rich Swamp and a Pine Savannah
Clay County
We crossed a branch, landed, and walked over a rich swamp 2 or 300 yards wide,..
The Route
The Bartram Expedition departed from Robert Davis’s plantation at Beauclerc Bluff on the east shore of the St. Johns River and entered Doctors Lake on February 6, 1766. They encamped that night near a spring on the west shore of the Lake, having explored and cataloged the forest adjacent to the Lake.
The Site
On the morning of February 7, the members of the expedition broke camp and returned to their vessel to continue their exploration of the lake and its environs. They soon passed or “crossed a branch” or small creek before again disembarking and walking through a swamp, a prairie, and finally a pine savanna. The warm, resinous, sweet scent of long-leaf pine, particularly thick on the eastern side of Doctors Lake, would have been a defining sensory experience.
After completing their survey of the area, they returned to their boat. It is difficult to determine from the short journal entry which ‘branch” they crossed or where they went ashore to explore. It is likely that it was somewhere along the east shore of the lake between Swimming Pen Creek and well before the mouth of the lake, since the distance (14 miles) traveled once they returned to their vessel was undoubtedly exaggerated, but leads one to believe it was closer to the head of the lake rather than its mouth. The night of February 7 was spent back at the Davis Plantation from which their exploration of the lake had originated.
Visitor Experience
The location chosen to represent this Bartram Site is the Lakeshore Boat Ramp on Doctors Lake, 4300 Lakeshore Drive, Fleming Island, FL 32003, where the Bartram Trail Site Number 2 marker is installed. This site has a large paved parking area, an improved boat launch and fishing pier, picnic tables, and public restrooms. It offers good access to both Doctors Lake (BT Site 1) and Swimming Pen Creek (BT Site 3).
February 7, 1766
February 7, 1766
“Cloudy morning; we crossed a branch, landed, and walked over a rich swamp 2 or 300 yards wide, then came to cutting-grass, then palmetto for 100 yards, then to a pine-savannah of a vast extent, moist, and producing a great burthen of pretty good grass, knee-deep; we returned and rowed down the lake and river about 14 miles to Davis’s against a strong wind, rain, and thunder, all wet and cold.”