Fill out this form to email this article to a friend

Your name		Your email
Recipient email	You may enter up to 20 multiple email addresses, separated by commas.
Your message
Validation Code	Hear validation code
	Enter validation code

We were unable to send your email.

Click here to try again.

Largo's Donegan Park is tiny retreat from hustle and bustle

By Piper Castillo, Times Staff Writer
In print: Sunday, November 16, 2008

Story Tools E-mail this story Contact the editor Print this story Comment on this story Social Bookmarking Digg Facebook Stumbleupon Reddit Del.icio.us Newsvine

ADVERTISEMENT [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times] A common gallinule takes flight from the shore at Donegan Park in Largo. Maintained by the city of Largo, the tiny park located off Lake Avenue and Donegan Road. Loading Video...

Rushing home as a commuter to Largo, you aim for the shortcut. You turn off Ulmerton Road at Lake Avenue and head to Donegan Road. You let the landscape blur, as you concentrate on what lies ahead: picking up the kids at after-school care and putting dinner on the table.

When you're not a frantic road warrior, you need to visit the area again. Go soon.

Next time, stop at Donegan Park. Check out its curvy palms, dozens of oaks and shorebirds wading in a creek.

Of course, you'll know you're not in a perfect sanctuary. You'll hear cars and trucks ripping down Ulmerton less than a mile away. You'll see the utility poles towering above the former cow pastures.

You'll be swayed, however, when you hear the soft train whistle. You'll take a seat at a picnic table and listen to it blowing in from the south.

When the train passes, you'll head to the park's edge. You'll smell something in the air. Oranges? Lemons?

You'll look up into the aged Spanish moss and spot the fat, yellow fruit. Grapefruit. For a minute, you're back in Old Florida. It'll be just you, the birds and the citrus, governed only by Mother Nature.

Piper Castillo welcomes ideas for Largo Explorer. She's reachable at pcastillo@sptimes.com.