Enchanted Forest Sanctuary

Enchanted Forest Sanctuary is a nature preserve at 444 Columbia Blvd. in southern Titusville, the first property bought by the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, which still manages it.

Brevard County calls it a flagship sanctuary and the first property purchased by its EEL Program, a 470 acre forest in the southern limits of the City of Titusville that forms part of the sanctuary network the program is assembling across the county (Brevard County Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). The county lists five basic habitat types on the property: oak scrub, mesic and hydric hammock, wet prairie and pine flatwood. It also notes that temperate northern and subtropical southern plant species grow there side by side, and its Management and Education Center interprets the site for visitors of all ages and abilities.

On paper the land is not county land. The City of Titusville parks list files Enchanted Forest Sanctuary under State Owned, Maintained by Brevard County, at 444 Columbia Blvd. with phone (321) 264-5185, next to Dicerandra Scrub Sanctuary in the same group (City of Titusville parks list). The Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail, a program of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, lists the same Titusville site as managed by Brevard County but gives its size as 493 acres rather than 470 (Great Florida Birding Trail, Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). Neither page explains the gap, so both figures are given here as printed.

Enchanted Forest is not the only preserve on that Titusville list. The same city page shows Fox Lake Sanctuary at 4400 Fox Lake Road, the same address the list gives for the county run Fox Lake Park, and Dicerandra Scrub Sanctuary at 4900 Melissa Drive, both on the (321) 264-5185 sanctuary line, while Chain of Lakes Park at 2300 Truman Scarborough Way has 3 miles of paved walking and biking trails, and biking is not permitted at Enchanted Forest (Brevard County Chain of Lakes Park). For trail information and maps before a visit, the City of Titusville points visitors to the Titusville Welcome Center at 419 South Hopkins Avenue, open Tuesday through Saturday 9am to 5pm (Titusville Welcome Center).

Entry to Enchanted Forest Sanctuary is free, and Brevard County lists it as closed Monday and open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

The county hours read Closed Monday, Tuesday through Sunday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, for the park and center at 444 Columbia Blvd., Titusville, FL 32780 (Brevard County Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). The Explore Historic Titusville story on the Addison-Ellis Canal, published by the Titusville Historic Preservation Board, agrees with Tuesday to Sunday 9:00am to 5:00pm and lists admission as free (Explore Historic Titusville, Addison-Ellis Canal). The Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail listing instead shows operational hours of Daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and says the site is free to enter (Great Florida Birding Trail, Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). Because the agency that runs the sanctuary says Monday is closed, a Monday trip to Titusville for this preserve is the one to confirm by phone first at (321) 264-5185.

Brevard County describes a 4.5 mile trail system at Enchanted Forest Sanctuary, while the state birding trail listing says four miles of well marked hiking trails.

The county invites hikers on a weekend naturalist led guided hike that lasts about 45 minutes and covers about 1 mile of the 4.5 mile trail system, mainly on the Coquina, Biodiversity, Mesic, Tomoka and Tortoise trails, and it asks hikers to sign up ahead of time to hold a spot (Brevard County Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). Wildlife species the county lists for this Titusville preserve include the Eastern indigo snake, Florida scrub lizard, gopher tortoise, white-tailed deer and bobcat. Wildlife observation, nature photography and hiking are the popular activities, and the county also tags the site for geocaching, picnic tables and a nature center.

For birders, the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail points to the Tomoka Trail boardwalk and the Biodiversity Loop as the best spots, especially in spring and fall when migratory songbirds such as Magnolia Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrushes pass through (Great Florida Birding Trail, Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). The same listing names Downy and Pileated Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Yellow bellied Sapsuckers in winter and Cooper's Hawks, and it sends visitors to the butterfly and dragonfly garden behind the education center and to the Gopher Tortoise exhibit. Trail maps are available at the Titusville education center, and the county page also posts a 2025 Enchanted Forest Sanctuary Trail Map as a PDF.

Bikes, pets, smoking, alcohol, motorized vehicles and hunting are all prohibited at Enchanted Forest Sanctuary, and the state listing notes accessible restrooms, accessible parking and cart tours by prior arrangement.

The county Do's and Don'ts for the Titusville sanctuary read plainly: biking is not permitted; do not feed, disturb or harm wildlife; pets, smoking, alcohol and motorized vehicles are prohibited; no hunting; stay on the trail; and removal of plants, animals, archeological or cultural resources is prohibited (Brevard County Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). For a walk with a dog, the Titusville parks guide points to Marina Park on Marina Road, which has the off leash dog park.

On access, the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail lists a restroom, an accessible restroom, parking and accessible parking, a visitor center and a tram or motorized tour among the site amenities at Enchanted Forest Sanctuary (Great Florida Birding Trail, Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). It adds that cart tours for the mobility impaired are available by prior arrangement and suggests calling ahead about guided tours and special programs. The county page offers an accessible version of the trail map on request.

Brevard County runs free school study trips at Enchanted Forest Sanctuary from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Tuesday through Thursday, booked with its Study Trip Request Form.

Every study trip at the Titusville sanctuary includes a 30 minute lunch break and a 45 minute hike through the woods, and the county matches the program to the grade level (Brevard County Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). The program list below is copied from the county page, with the length the county gives for each.

The high school field study at the Titusville preserve has students study plant diversity, soil permeability and the effects of prescribed burns, according to the county description.

The canal remnants about 200 feet along the trail from the visitor center are remains of the Addison-Ellis Canal, a 1911 drainage venture south of Titusville that failed at a coquina rock ridge and is now a recognized Florida Heritage Site.

Explore Historic Titusville, the history site of the Titusville Historic Preservation Board, places the evidence about 200 feet along the trail from the visitor center of Enchanted Forest Sanctuary (Explore Historic Titusville, Addison-Ellis Canal). In 1911, businessmen Edgar W. Ellis and J. H. Beckwith put together a consortium of developers to buy 22,500 acres of marshy land south of Titusville and drain it for farming. By 1913 their crews, using earthmoving machinery that had been used to dig the Panama Canal, had dug 43 miles of parallel canals and started a main canal meant to send St. Johns River floodwaters to the Indian River through Addison Creek. The machines could not break the coquina ridge, the canal was never completed and the consortium went broke.

A historical marker on the trail tells the story near one of the overgrown canals, and the same source states that the remains of the Addison-Ellis Canal Project have been recognized as a Florida Heritage Site. The sanctuary is also a stop on the board's Growth of a Modern City tour, which describes the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary as having extensive, well marked trails and a visitor center where several hours can easily be spent (Explore Historic Titusville, Growth of a Modern City tour). The county lists the sanctuary under Historic Site among its activities.

Yes, Brevard County posts a monthly events calendar and newsletter for Enchanted Forest Sanctuary and lists a long set of volunteer roles at the Titusville site.

The county calendar for the sanctuary carries items such as regular guided hikes, a forest therapy hike, nature storytime and a special off the path guided hike, along with a plant sale and a harvest festival, and the county notes that events may be cancelled at any time due to weather or staffing (Brevard County Enchanted Forest Sanctuary). Dates change month to month, so the county page is the place to check before a trip to Titusville rather than any copied list.

Volunteer roles the county lists include interpretive guiding, greeting visitors, hike desk hosting, environmental education, interpretive exhibits, sanctuary monitoring, exotic plant control, maintenance and repairs, landscaping, photography, grant writing and the newsletter. Questions go to the sanctuary line, (321) 264-5185, which is also the number the City of Titusville lists for the preserve (City of Titusville parks list).

Last verified: October 21, 2026, by re-reading the Brevard County EEL sanctuary page, the state birding trail listing, the City of Titusville parks list and Welcome Center page and two Explore Historic Titusville pages, keeping the acreage, trail length and Monday hours conflicts exactly as each printed them.