Tucker Ranch's New Wellness Park Was Built Around a Calendar

Early this year, crews from Youngblood Building Movers lifted a hundred-year-old arch out of the ground near Avalon Road. They bolted beams to its base as a counterweight and ran chains under the original footers. Then they rolled it slowly across uneven dirt on a rig set up like a tricycle so it wouldn't twist or crack. The arch had marked the entrance to West Orange Country Club for at least a century. The city's parks staff worried that one car accident could destroy it. Today it stands as the main gate to the newest part of Tucker Ranch.

The new section opens to the public on Friday, October 23. Walk through the arch and the path leads straight to a fireplace between an outdoor kitchen and a restroom and storage building. Most of the 25.6 acres was laid out for scheduled use: classes, cooking demonstrations, conferences and group programs, with gardens and trails around them.

The Land Has Changed Jobs Before

The Orange Observer's March report on the addition laid out the property's history. West Orange Country Club first opened here in 1915 and became a social hub known for its high-society parties. In 1924, hurricane rains flooded the property from Johns Lake to the west and destroyed the original facility. In 1941 the 209-acre parcel became Tucker Ranch, a cattle operation. The country club that many longtime residents remember opened later, in 1967, as an 18-hole, par-71 course designed by Lloyd Clifton.

The city bought the property in 2011 and started planning a nature park in 2013. Tucker Ranch Park and Nature Preserve opened in 2018. The city broke ground on Phase II on August 23, 2024, and in its October e-newsletter said the work finished "on time and in budget."

Each version of the site had a different purpose. The 2018 preserve was built for walking, paddling and picnics. Phase II is built for programs, and its buildings show that.

What's Actually Behind the Arch

Here's how the City of Winter Garden and the Observer's March walkthrough describe the pieces:

• The Retreat Center. A 5,000-square-foot indoor venue with a screened patio. Its glass roof was built to withstand hurricanes, and it seats 200 to 250 people for programs, health conferences and classes.
• The Ranch House. A demonstration kitchen with an outdoor patio and the fireplace you see straight through the arch.
• A botanical garden. Ornamental, food and pollinator plants, plus an orchard, an old-Florida garden and a small edible farm area with blueberry bushes. Some plantings will rotate with the seasons.
• A greenhouse.
• Water features. A pond and fountain, a roofed pavilion that extends over the water, a bridge and a boardwalk.
• Trails with exercise nodes. These have outdoor fitness equipment along the loop.
• A gazebo and a story circle. Both are north and northeast of the arch, and the story circle was designed for outdoor teaching, including visiting school classes.

In March, crews were painting a trellis meant to carry petrea, the same vine that covers Centennial Plaza downtown and turns blue at certain times of year. Interpretive signs for plant identification and Florida-friendly landscaping are planned to come later.

New walking paths tie Phase II into the original preserve's playground, nature trails, picnic areas and canoe and kayak launch. A morning on the trails and an afternoon at the pond pavilion become one connected visit starting October 23.

The Kitchen Was Made Small on Purpose

The outdoor kitchen shows most clearly how this park is meant to work. In March, Winter Garden Parks and Recreation Director Laura Coar told the Orange Observer that the kitchen will be used for cooking demonstrations and food-to-table events, not catering. It was kept small on purpose so sessions stay intimate and hands-on. Chefs will be able to cook with produce grown in the park's own gardens and orchard.

That changes how you'd plan around it. A kitchen sized for a demonstration group, a 250-seat retreat center and a story circle for classes all depend on someone putting events on the calendar. Coar described the range of uses this way in the same article:

"Some people will come here purely to go and see the cooking demonstration. Some will come here for conferences. We set up the park so that if you just want to come and walk around, it's a nice place to come and walk. … You can go to a yoga class. You can do meditation."

The quiet uses are still there. Coar also described spots where you can sit alone with a book without feeling isolated. But the buildings you'll spot first were built for scheduled groups.

Who Fills the Calendar

The March reporting says the city's Parks and Recreation Department will control the program schedule and choose which partners and providers take part. The article named a long list of organizations connected to the project: 4Roots Farm, Healthy West Orange, AdventHealth, Orlando Health, Shepherd's Hope, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, UCP of Central Florida, Community Health Centers and the Mental Health Association of Central Florida.

Coar described the goal as covering every side of health: physical, mental, emotional and eating well. She contrasted that with groups like 4Roots Farm, which focus on one piece such as food and growing.

Here's what hasn't been announced as of mid-October. The city's opening materials cover the ribbon cutting and public tours. They don't list a first yoga class, a cooking demonstration date or a named chef. The partner list comes from planning-stage reporting, not a published schedule. Expect the first round of programs to show up on the city's event pages after the park opens.

Opening Day, and the Two Days Before It

Plan around the closure first. According to a city notice posted October 1, the entire Tucker Ranch Park & Nature Preserve will be closed Wednesday, October 21, and Thursday, October 22, for construction. That includes the existing trails and kayak launch.

The city's grand-opening announcement invites the public to tour the new park after the ceremony. Before the expansion, the city listed the preserve as open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with free admission. A regular schedule for after opening day hasn't been posted yet. If you usually come in the early morning, check the city's site before your first visit after October 23. The announcements also don't give parking details for the expanded park.

The Library on Hamlin Groves Trail Works the Same Way

Tucker Ranch isn't the only new public building on the west side this month. On Saturday, October 10, Orange County Library System opened the Horizon West Branch Library at 4657 Hamlin Groves Trail. The Orange Observer covered the opening.

Its layout follows the same idea as Tucker Ranch. According to the Observer's pre-opening announcement, the nature-themed, 20,000-square-foot building cost about $18.3 million. Inside are two teaching classrooms, one for technology classes and one for fiber arts and STEM, plus a public media lab. There are also three large community rooms you can rent for events, two study rooms, and outside a nature walk with a permanent story walk and a musical garden. Like the Retreat Center, much of the building is meant for classes and events. Upcoming programs are listed at ocls.org/horizon-west-updates.

Between October 10 and October 23, Winter Garden's west side gains two public buildings with classrooms, rentable rooms and teaching spaces. Both are only as busy as their event calendars.

If you're curious how new places like Tucker Ranch Phase II and the Horizon West library are changing life on this side of Winter Garden, Brenda Feliciani follows these openings closely and is always glad to talk through them. If you own a home near Avalon Road or Hamlin Groves Trail and wonder what your home is worth now, start with a free home valuation.