There are a lot of beautiful parks in the Sunshine State, including those with awesome playgrounds or scenic nature trails. But this park in Jacksonville serves a special purpose in a unique way.
The Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Park is located at 101 W State Street in Downtown Jacksonville. Folks ages 2 to 92 can appreciate this beautiful and inspirational park.
The park features scale replicas of Jacksonville's famous bridges. Jacksonville is nicknamed The River City because the St. Johns River runs through it, so it makes sense that the city has several iconic bridges.
This wonderfully unique park is dedicated to inspiring those currently battling cancer and celebrating cancer survivors. If you walk between the bridges, there are benches and plaques with advice and encouraging words.
Below the bridges, there is a sunken garden in the shape of the St. Johns River. The area is landscaped with native and medicinal plants that have played a role in cancer treatment.
At Cancer Survivors Park, visitors can stroll across miniature versions of the Main Street, Hart, Dames Point, Mathews, and Acosta Bridges. The bridges have very different shapes and colors, giving the park an eye-catching design that makes it a popular spot for photos.
The park also features a computer database full of people whose cancer has been in remission for five years or longer, which is an important milestone for survivors.
There is also a sculpture that represents the road to recovery that cancer survivors go through. The people at the end of the journey are joyful and full of hope, because the organization believes that hope is an essential part of defeating the disease.
