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NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES JUNGLE TRAIL CONTINUATION SHEET Indian River County, Florida Section 7 Page 1 Narrative Description Summary Jungle Trail is a narrow, unpaved public road, approximately 7.5 miles long, located on the barrier island in northeastern Indian River County, Florida. The communities of Sebastian and Vero Beach lie to the north and south, respectively. The road was constructed through the thick,jungle-like growth of the maritime hammock. Originally the road meandered over 14 miles, linking homesteads first settled in the 1880s and traversing the famous Indian River citrus groves. The trail also borders the mangroves and wetlands of the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the country's first such nature preserve, established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 (United States Fish and Wildlife Service 1963, 1998). Land use around the Jungle Trail has changed considerably in the twentieth century. The area's early homesteads and citrus groves have given way in many places to large residential developments and condominiums. The road also has changed, first established as a county road, then becoming the original route for State Road A-1-A, and ultimately reverting to a local byway. Portions of the original 14-mile alignment have been lost to some of these alterations. Despite these changes, the remaining 7.5-mile segment of the Jungle Trail still retains its original character, and provides a glimpse of Florida as it was in the early and mid-twentieth century. Description The Jungle Trail runs north/south through the barrier island adjacent to the Indian River in northeastern Indian River County(Figure 1). The road traverses a fairly broad part of the island, known as Orchid Island, which borders an area of the lagoon known as the Indian River Narrows. The geomorphology of the area and the numerous mangrove islands suggest a series of tidal deltas associated with long extinct inlets (Almasi 19837 The:7.5-mile road begins at Old Winter Beach Road (UTM 539$21 E 3067213N)and ends at the junction with Highway A-1-A(UTM 556631 E 3076367N). The first 2.2-mile stretch hugs the shoreline of the lagoon. As the Jungle Trail approaches the intersection with County Road 510 (Wabasso Beach Bridge Road)it moves away from the lagoon and meanders for approximately 2.7 miles, ultimately turning back to the west and the shoreline of Spratt Creek for another 1.5 miles. This stretch of the road had originally followed property boundaries, taking several jogs to the north and west before meeting the lagoon. Where the road traverses wetlands, ditches and berms are evident on both sides. The last mile heads to the north toward a narrower section of the island where it meets State Road A-1-A. Measurements of the width of the roadbed vary from 15 to 27 feet, averaging 20 feet. In the 1920s and 1930s the road crossed through a maritime hammock ecosystem, a dense, wind-pruned canopy of live oak, cabbage palm, and redbay. The original plat maps of the area label much of this as"Hammock"or"Cabbage Hammock"(Harris 1859; Houstoun 1846). Other plants that contribute to the"jungle"of the hammock include American holly, magnolia, red cedar, sea grape, false mastic, paradise tree, lancewood, gumbo limbo, strangler fig, poisonwood, wild olive, saw palmetto, coral bean, coontie,wild coffee, marlberry, and ferns (Johnson and Barbour 1990). Where the road hugs the shoreline of the lagoon and Spratt Creek, the tidal swamp vegetation community includes red mangrove, white mangrove, black mangrove, and buttonwood (Odum and Mclvor 1990:519-521). Brackish lagoon waters support a diverse fauna, including rays, tarpon, ladyfish, bonefish, menhaden, sardines, lookdown, several shark species, sheepshead, pinfish, and mullet(Florida Natural Areas Inventory 1990:69-71).