About Camp Milton Historic Preserve
Camp Milton Historic Preserve protects part of a major Confederate defensive line established west of Jacksonville in early 1864. More than 8,000 troops assembled in the area, where soldiers built miles of earth-and-timber fortifications along McGirts Creek to block a Union advance following the Battle of Olustee. The camp was named for Florida governor John Milton, and surviving sections of its earthworks were rediscovered in the twentieth century.
Today, visitors can follow accessible paths and a wooden boardwalk to the remaining fortifications, explore interpretive exhibits and Civil War artifacts in the education center when available, cross a replica campaign-style bridge, and see a reconstructed nineteenth-century Florida farmstead. Its connection to the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail also makes the preserve a useful stop for visitors combining history with walking or cycling.
