Boyd Hill Nature Preserve: Hours, Fees and Camping

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve connects to Lake Maggiore in St. Petersburg, with its main entrance at 1101 Country Club Way S., St. Petersburg, FL 33705.

The St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation Department runs the preserve and lists its phone as (727) 893-7326 and its email as [email protected] (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation). A second entrance, Gate 2, is along 31st St. S. (City of St. Petersburg, 2021). The Hammock Hall Ranger Office at the campground and the Pinellas Pioneer Settlement both use 3010 31st St. S., St. Petersburg, FL 33712 (Terry Tomalin Campground page; Pioneer Settlement page).

The size depends on which city page is read. The current Boyd Hill page says the preserve spans 400 acres and connects to Lake Maggiore (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation). City media releases from 2021 (City of St. Petersburg, 2021) and January 2025 (City of St. Petersburg, 2025) both call it the 245-acre preserve. No city page fetched for this guide explains the gap, so both figures are given here.

Four facilities share the Boyd Hill grounds: the Lake Maggiore Environmental Education Center, the Pinellas Pioneer Settlement, the Terry Tomalin Campground and the Birds of Prey aviary (City of St. Petersburg). The Boyd Hill page gives gopher tortoises, alligators and marsh rabbits as examples of the animals living in the habitats the trails cross (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation).

In 2021 the city opened the land between the north and south parts of the preserve along Lake Maggiore after ecological restoration, adding two miles of nature trail from the nature center to the campground, with a restroom and shelter (City of St. Petersburg, 2021). The same release describes a Cooperative Funding Agreement with the Southwest Florida Water Management District to restore hydrology and wetlands in the ditches that run through Boyd Hill.

Boyd Hill is closed Mondays and opens at 9:00 am (7:00 am Saturdays), closing at 6:00 pm from November 1 to February 25 and 7:00 pm from March 1 to October 31.

The city posts two seasonal schedules for Boyd Hill, and the trail closes earlier than the gate (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation):

Three practical notes come from reading the Boyd Hill schedule closely. The holiday closure line (closed on Mondays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day) is printed under the March 1 to October 31 schedule, although all three holidays fall in the November 1 to February 25 season. The winter schedule ends February 25 and the summer one starts March 1, so the posted hours do not cover February 26 through the last day of February; calling (727) 893-7326 before a late February visit settles it. And the Saturday 7:00 am opening is the only early start of the week, which makes Saturday the day for a cool morning walk on the Lake Maggiore trails.

The current Boyd Hill page also says that due to renovations the nature center's exhibits are closed to the public, while the preserve and trails remain open (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation). The page gives no reopening date.

A single visit to Boyd Hill costs an adult $3 and a child aged 3 to 16 $1.50, while entry is free below age 3 (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation).

Prices above are from the city's Boyd Hill page, which says the combo gives a 50 percent discount on trail passes and that membership fees stay at Boyd Hill to support camps, the aviary and special projects (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation). FOBH is the Friends of Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, the nonprofit that supports the preserve with volunteers and education.

The arithmetic favors the combo for anyone who walks Boyd Hill often. At $3 a visit, the $30 individual trail pass equals ten adult visits, and the $30 individual combo adds the FOBH membership for the same price as the pass bought alone. A family of two adults and two children pays $9 a visit at the gate, so the $45 family combo covers itself in five visits.

Yes: the Terry Tomalin Campground inside Boyd Hill is St. Petersburg's first public primitive family campground, open to individuals and groups, with 18 campsites and 6 cabins listed by the city.

Check in is 1 p.m., check out is 11 a.m., and quiet hours run 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.; reservations go through the preserve at (727) 893-7326, and firewood is sold at the Hammock Hall Ranger Office, 3010 31st St. S. (Terry Tomalin Campground page). The registered camper must be 18, visitors are not allowed in the campground between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and pedestrian trail access is reduced at dusk.

The campground rules leave a lot at home. The city lists as not permitted: alcoholic beverages, smoking or vaping, fishing or hunting, swimming, pets, gasoline-powered generators, feeding or harassing wildlife, RVs or campers, outside firewood and fireworks (Terry Tomalin Campground page). Service animals must be registered at check in and stay leashed. RVs and campers are on that list, so overnight stays use the 18 campsites or the 6 cabins.

The campground is new. The city dedicated it on Saturday, July 3, 2021, describing a first phase of 12 primitive tent sites, each with a picnic table and fire pit, and a planned second phase of 12 more (City of St. Petersburg, 2021). Before then, camping at Boyd Hill was open only to organizations. The name honors Terry Tomalin, a former Tampa Bay Times outdoors writer who supported camping at the preserve through service projects. The same 2021 project built Hammock Hall, a 3,131 sq. ft. welcome and education center at a consolidated entrance near Gate 2 on 31st St. S., and was mainly funded by Penny for Pinellas.

The Pinellas Pioneer Settlement is a living history museum inside Boyd Hill Nature Preserve at 3010 31st St. S., showing late 19th century life in west-central Florida, and the city gives its hours only by phone at (727) 893-7326.

The St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation Department manages the settlement. Its buildings include the Brantley Building, built in 1888, and the Endicott House, built in 1898, with a blacksmith shop, saw mill, sugar cane shed, print shop, pole barn and agricultural building (Pioneer Settlement page). The city says these structures have hosted Civil War reenactments, music festivals, antique engine shows and family game days, and that Pioneer Seasonal Camps for children ages 7 to 13 run through the year and in summer.

Because the city posts no regular settlement hours, a scheduled event is a dated chance to see it open. The city's October 2026 events guide, published October 1, 2026, lists a Pumpkin Patch carving session on Sunday, Oct. 11 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at $10 with pumpkins included, and Autumn Harvest on Saturday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at $5 per person, children 3 and under free, with games, hayrides, crafts and food trucks (City of St. Petersburg, October 2026). Proceeds from Autumn Harvest go to the Friends of Boyd Hill Nature Preserve.

The 2021 enhancement project added natural parking at the Pinellas Pioneer Settlement and a Pioneer Garden that Gibbs High School students maintain weekly (City of St. Petersburg, 2021).

Boyd Hill runs group nature programs, a Birds of Prey program built around 17 non-releasable raptors, and seasonal events such as Raptor Fest, held on February 1 in 2025, and a December night hike.

Group programs at Boyd Hill last 60 minutes and are open to non-school groups: $75 for a single program and $150 to $175 for a combo with under 25 participants, or $100 single and $175 to $200 combo for 26 to 60 participants (Programs at the Preserve). Options include Nature Discovery Walks through the preserve's habitats with ambassador animals, and a Birds of Prey on-site visit at $100. Requests go through the preserve's program request form.

Raptor Fest exists to support the preserve's Birds of Prey program. The 11th Raptor Fest ran Saturday, February 1, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1101 Country Club Way S., free, with free-flight demonstrations, bird walks and exhibits (City of St. Petersburg, 2025). Only handicap parking was available at the preserve that day; everyone else parked at Lake Vista Recreation Center, 1401 62nd Ave. S, or Lakewood High School, 1400 54th Ave. S, and rode free shuttles. The city says the event raises over $10,000 a year for the 17 raptors, cared for by Parks and Recreation and the Friends of Boyd Hill, and draws more than 5,000 visitors. No later Raptor Fest release was among the city pages checked for this guide, so the 2025 details are the latest confirmed here.

Winter evenings bring small ticketed events. The city's 2025 holiday guide listed a Cocoa Night Hike at Boyd Hill on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, from 7 to 9 p.m. at $5 per person, and S'mores with Santa at the Pinellas Pioneer Settlement on Friday, Dec. 12, and Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, from 5 to 7 p.m. for $5 (City of St. Petersburg, 2025). Those are 2025 listings from a guide the city published on Nov. 21, 2025; no 2026 holiday guide was among the pages checked.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation pages for Boyd Hill, the Terry Tomalin Campground and the Pioneer Settlement, and the city's 2021, 2025 and 2026 media releases.