Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT) bought 46 acres in Cross Creek that further buffers the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park and will become a public nature preserve starting next year.
Acquired in April with support from several individuals, the land was part of the Axline-Brice House between Lochloosa Lake and Orange Lake. The house was built in the late 1880s by Cincinnati businessman Jasper Axline.
An ACT press release said the house was sold to the Brice family, who were familiar with Rawlings as a neighbor. The house remains well preserved but is in private ownership and not open to the public, ACT said.
The new 46-acre acquisition, however, will become the John & Catherine Licko Memorial Preserve and be open to the public to experience “old Florida,” ACT’s release said. The property serves as another connection between Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake as well as the larger Lochloosa Wildlife Corridor that runs north to south.
