The Friends of Talbot Islands State Parks is the non profit arm of the Talbot Islands State Parks. We help the parks do more with less. As operating budgets shrink, Citizen Support Organizations (CSO's) lend a hand by fund-raising or providing volunteer people power to help complete important projects.

It's that time again the Friends of Talbot State Parks
Ride-a-thon is planned for Sunday May 11
if you would like to be a rider email Kelly

What or Who is Sarabay?

Friends of Talbot Islands State Parks was formerly known as the Sarabay Society.

Sarabay was the name of the Timucuan leader whose people also called the Talbot Islands home. Archeologists have found evidence of Timucua villages dating back over 5000 years ago, the majority of these are in the St. John's River basin area. They lived a relatively peaceful existance until the French and Spanish arrived in the 1500's. Once 30,000 strong, the Timucua were unable to cope with the diseases and strife brought by the Europeans. By the early 1800's these first Native Americans were essentially extinct.

Big Talbot Island was originally called Isle de Sarabay. Now the name continues to be used by the Sarabay Center, the building at the end of Houston Ave available to rent for meetings and events.

Discover the Saturiwa Trail by car with a Park Ranger in your CD player

Have a virtual Park Ranger alongside you (in CD format) while you drive the 4.4 mile Saturiwa Trail on Ft. George Island. Discover the endless history of the exciting island while you hear about the natural, cultural and historic environment that surrounds you. Driving time with stops: 2 hrs.

The Talbot Islands State Parks is proudly unveiling a new interpretive park program, one that you can do at your own pace from the comfort of your air-conditioned vehicle. All you need is a car CD-player and an interest in ‘old Florida.’ The tour follows the narrow road around Fort George Island, a setting rich in natural and cultural significance. Kathleen Kelso, winner of the 2005 Joe Kenner Statewide Interpreter of the Year Award, provides exquisitely vivid narration. Each of the tour’s 23 stops is marked on the edge of the road with a numbered brown and white sign.

Visitors have the option of checking out a CD audio guide, or downloading a written version of the same tour from the web. Both the audio and text versions are designed to be self-guiding, allowing visitors to do the tour at their own pace. The Saturiwa Trail audio CD is the first installment of the Virtual Ranger Series.

Copies of the CD guide will be available for check-out at the following locations: Little Talbot Island Ranger Station, the Ribault Club and the Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island, Long Island Outfitters/ Kayak Amelia, and Kelly Seahorse Ranch. Visitors will also be able to download the text guide as a pdf file by navigating to the Little Talbot Island State Park or Fort George Island Cultural State Park websites.

Sign up here to be notified of Ranger Programs, special events and other park news