John Stretch Park
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". John Stretch Park is a small roadside park on the south side of Lake Okeechobee. The park is accessed along U.S. Route 27.[1] The park provides picnic areas, restrooms, a large grassy field, an outdoor basketball court, and a boat ramp. Admission is not charged. The entire north edge of the park is dominated by the twenty-foot dike surrounding the lake. Set into this dike at one end of the park are flood control machinery and a lock for moving boats into and out of the lake. The Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail can be accessed from the park.
This park also displays several diesel engines, valves, and pipes that once were part of the flood control facility.
The park is named in honor of John H. Stretch. A plaque in the park explains that Stretch worked as director of recreation and conservation for the flood control district between 1963 and 1970. In May 1970, Stretch was killed in a plane crash while working for the Florida Flood Control Agency.[2][3]
In 2022, a man and a woman were shot to death in the park.[4][5]
References
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- ↑ "Plane Crash Probe Drawing a Blank" Fort Pierce News Tribune Newspaper Archives May 15, 1970 Page 3.
- ↑ "News Briefs" Panama City News Herald Newspaper Archives May 7, 1970 Page 2.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".