PRINCESS PLACE PRESERVE / PALM COAST
Room for
more life.
A lodge, a landscape and the people
learning how to care for both.
ROB URBAN
A historic lodge gives Princess Place Preserve a memorable human story. A small amphibian gives it another reason to matter.
In June 2023, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported finding striped newts during surveys at Princess Place Preserve and neighboring Pellicer Creek Conservation Area. Researchers found them in thirteen wetlands across the two areas. It was the first recorded occurrence of the species in Flagler County.
The report then described county, water-management district and FWC staff examining possibilities for wetland restoration.
I admire that progression from discovery to care. People looked closely, learned something consequential and began considering how to improve the conditions for the animals they found.
It is a good introduction to a preserve whose value keeps expanding as you learn about it.
THE LODGE
A porch
of palms
and cedar.
The state historical marker identifies the lodge as an Adirondack camp-style building constructed in 1887. Its materials include tabby block cladding, cedar and palm trunk posts, and pink coquina.
I like the way that description joins a recognizable architectural tradition with the materials of this coast. The building belongs to a particular setting through the things used to make it.
A porch supported by tree trunks is a detail worth lingering over. It makes the relationship between a house and its surroundings visible, right where people gather to look out.
That is part of the appeal of Princess Place for me. Architecture gives the landscape a human point of view, while the landscape helps explain the architecture.
A name that opens a story.
The name comes from Angela Mills Cutting, whose later marriage to the exiled Russian prince Boris Scherbatoff brought the title of princess into the property’s history. Flagler County’s preserve account traces that connection and identifies the surviving lodge as the county’s oldest intact structure.
It is an unusual story, and a natural beginning for curiosity. The public preserve gives that curiosity several directions to follow.
The lodge can interest someone in the people who lived here. The waterways can draw someone toward the wider landscape. A trail can introduce a visitor to life they had not known to look for.
I appreciate places that allow an initial interest to grow in that way. There is room to discover what matters to you as you spend more attention on the place.
OUT ON THE TRAIL
Learning the landscape
by name.
For a February 2026 guided walk, county natural resource specialist Ralph Risch described a route through both overgrown and restored sandhill habitat. His announcement named wiregrass, turkey oak and longleaf pine, and explained the opportunity to discuss the animals that depend on that setting.
That sort of guided attention can change what a person sees. Different plants and conditions become recognizable. A piece of land begins to have an intelligible life of its own.
The announcement also connected the walk with striped newts and wintering migrant birds. It placed the preserve in the rhythms of breeding, seasonal movement and habitat care.
I am inspired by the generosity of sharing that knowledge outdoors. Someone who knows a place well can give other people a way to notice more of it.
Several kinds of belonging.
The Flagler County Historical Society’s account describes the preserve where Pellicer Creek meets the Matanzas River, with salt marsh, freshwater wetlands, oak hammocks, pine communities and open water.
Those different environments help explain why keeping a whole landscape matters. The view from a porch is part of a much larger living place.
It also explains the variety of ways people can develop affection for it. A person watching birds and a person drawn to the historic lodge may begin with different interests, then find themselves caring about the same preserve.
I like that possibility of shared attachment. A place can bring people together without requiring them to enjoy it in precisely the same way.
The public chapter.
The historical marker records Flagler County’s purchase of the property as a preserve in 1993. The county now describes trails, lodge tours, paddling access, camping and reservable cottages among the ways people can spend time here.
That public chapter is what makes the story especially meaningful to me. A property with a distinctive private history has become a place for shared learning and enjoyment.
The work continues in the care of both its structures and its habitats. Some of it is easy to recognize. Some becomes apparent only when a ranger, researcher or natural resource specialist explains what they have been doing.
Princess Place inspires me because it holds room for so many forms of life and interest. There is a historic home to understand, a landscape to learn and a small newt whose presence makes a wetland more significant.
The people caring for the preserve help all of those stories continue.
Continue exploring Flagler County Stories or read about the research and preservation at Bulow Plantation Ruins. If your place has a story worth understanding more deeply, I would welcome a conversation.
Rob Urban
The name, the lodge and a stay.
Why is it called Princess Place?
The name is associated with Angela Mills Cutting and her later marriage to the exiled Russian prince Boris Scherbatoff. The county’s history explains how the property previously known as Cherokee Grove became Princess Place.
Can I tour the historic lodge?
Flagler County lists ranger-led lodge tours separately from general preserve access. Check the official preserve page for the current tour schedule and any changes before planning around an interior visit.
Are camping and cottages available?
The county lists primitive camping, equestrian camping and cottages, with advance reservations required. Use the county’s reservation information for the specific facility, dates and current requirements.