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USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form Jungle Trail Indian River County, Florida Page 6 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 7 Page 2 (Narrative Description, continued) Soils traversed by the Jungle Trail include poorly drained to moderately well drained sands of the Canaveral- Captive-Palm Beach association (Wettstein et al. 1987:21-22, 34-35). Interestingly, these soils would typically be a poor choice for growing citrus, though the rich and highly organic soils provided by the large number of Indian shell mounds and middens in the area may have contributed to the success of the early Indian River citrus industry(Dicke) 1992:62-63, 65- 68; Rouse 1951:Figure 11, 210-220). Other soils found along the route of the Jungle Trail include mucky loams that are often damp or flooded (Wettstein et al. 1987:43-44). Construction of the road through these areas adjacent to the lagoon required dikes and the addition of road fill. The Jungle Trail likely had predecessors dating back to the earliest settlement of the barrier island bordering the Indian River. In many parts of Florida, early trails and roads of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries had their roots in "Indian trails" blazed and used by Seminoles and the earlier native inhabitants of the state. An early nineteenth century coast chart(United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 1909)and an early soil survey map of the area (Mooney and Baldwin 1915)show seven east-west trails on Orchid Island. Construction of the road considered here, however, began in 1920 and continued through the Depression. Commencing at the wooden bridge in Vero Beach, the new county road followed the routes of older tracks, trails, and wagon roads made by earlier settlers. This is especially true of the Orchid- Narrows Road,which formed the southern portion of the Jungle Trail, and some of the roads through the citrus groves at the northern end of the trail. The road's alignment connected homesteads and farms and the Indian River waterway. When the road was completed, it was over 14 miles long and ended at a Brevard County road along the county line. The road was connected to the mainland by three bridges at Vero Beach, Quay(Winter Beach), and Wabasso. The Jungle Trail has been known by a variety of names since it was constructed. Originally, the road was called "the island road." In 1931 and 1935 portions of the route were designated as state roads by the Florida legislature (ultimately State Road 252). In 1941, State Road 252 was renamed "the Peninsular Road." After World War II the route was designated as part of the original alignment for State Road A-1-A. The southern portion of the road was eventually absorbed into the Vero Beach street system. In the 1950s a pagon of the road from Bethel Creek to the Winter Beach Bridge was lost as a new alignment for State Road A-1-A was built. The remaining unpaved segment is 7.5 miles long. averages 20 feet in width, and is known as the Jungle Trail. Australian pines, introduced as windbreaks, line the road along with citrus trees of the Indian River citrus groves. The canopy of the maritime hammock is dense along some sections of the road, and native species are being planted by new residential developments and in restoration of the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. The Jungle Trail is currently used as a local road for vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic. Increasing year- round tourism and eco-tourism has made the Jungle Trail a popular scenic route, continuing a tradition begun in the late 1930s and 1940s. Proximity to the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge has helped preserve the wild, romantic nature of the narrow, unpaved road. Indian River County, with funds obtained through a Florida Department of Transportation IS- TEA grant, has developed two facilities that provide visitor access to the wildlife refuge from Jungle Trail. Jungle Trail has been designated an Indian River County Scenic& Historic Road (1983), and has been recognized as a historic landscape by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation (1990), and as an Urban/Community-based/Historic/Working Landscape Greenway by the Florida Greenways Commission (Florida Greenways Commission 1995).