Jonathan Dickinson State Park‘s timeline begins with the native Ais, Jaega and Jobe Indian tribes who originally inhabited the area, but it was a storied shipwreck that would jumpstart its written narrative.
1696: Jonathan Dickinson, a Quaker merchant from Port Royal, Jamaica, shipwrecks near the Jupiter Inlet on his way to Philadelphia. He later writes about his experiences following the wreck in a journal called “God’s Protecting Providence, Man’s Surest Help and Defence.”
Quaker merchant Jonathan Dickinson and his family were stranded when their ship foundered not far from the state park that bears his name on Sept. 23, 1696. Dickinson wrote about it in “God’s Protecting Providence, Man’s Surest Help and Defence.”
1890s: Homestead grants are awarded for coastal land around northern Palm Beach County and southern Martin County. Some agriculture is established, including pineapple farming.
1894: Florida East Coast railroad is built.
1933: Vincent Nostokovich, later known as Vince Nelson or Trapper Nelson, establishes a camp on the northwest fork of the Loxahatchee River and later opens his pioneer homestead and zoo to curious tourists.
Victor Nostokovich, of Trenton, New Jersey, came to Jupiter and became Trapper Nelson. His life, and his death, are both somewhat mysterious.
1938-1941: Cypress logging occurs in the area of what is now Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
1942-1947: U.S. Army operates secret radar training school called Camp Murphy.
1946: Tuberculosis sanitarium proposed for former Camp Murphy hospital. Plan is rejected.
1947: State of Florida buys Camp Murphy site and about 8,000 acres from federal government. About 2,200 acres is transferred from the state’s Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund.
1950: Park opens for weekends. While originally named Jupiter State Park, it is renamed Jonathan Dickinson State Park following the republication of Dickinson’s journal, “God’s Protecting Providence. Man’s Surest Help and Defence”. The journal chronicled the shipwreck and interactions with native tribes as Dickinson’s party made its way to St. Augustine.
1953: Holy Land U.S.A., a Christian-themed attraction, is proposed by Broadway producer Eddie Dowling on scrub land in the park. Plan fails.
1956: Park opens seven days a week.
1957: Boy Scouts of America Tana Keeta Scout Reservation opens.
Hobe Sound-Boy Scouts of Tanah Keeta Summer Camp enjoy the new Loxahatchee River swimming area at Jonathan Dickinson State Park after a ribbon cutting ceremony in…
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