With 129 acres of open water and weedy marshlands, Lake Alice is a major natural attraction in the heart of Gainesville's University of Florida campus. Plans to develop the lakefront were defeated in 1999 when the late Gov. Lawton Chiles moved to preserve the shoreline in one of his last acts as governor. Today, the Lake Alice Conservation Area is a wild oasis amid the bustling campus, where visitors can hike around the lake shore, snap photographs and see alligators in their natural habitat.
Hiking and Nature Viewing
- Most of the Lake Alice Conservation Area is inaccessible due to its generally swampy nature, but the area along Museum Drive at the northern and western shore of Lake Alice includes facilities for visitors. You can stroll the boardwalk, stop at the lakeside observation platforms or simply relax on the park benches provided by University Gardens. You can spot a wide range of wildlife in and around lake Alice, including alligators, tree frogs, turtles and dozens of native bird species. For longer hiking trails, you can visit the University of Florida Natural Area Teaching Laboratory, less than a 5-minute drive from Lake Alice, which offers numerous trails that wind through a diverse ecosystem of grasslands, hammock forests and wetlands.
Baughman Center
- At the southwest corner of the Lake Alice Conservation Area, right next to University Gardens, the Baughman Center is an elegantly constructed pavilion designed, as the University of Florida puts it, "to bring the picturesque outdoor setting inside." Built with natural materials including marble floors and hardwood ceilings, the Baughman Center is a place of quiet contemplation and peaceful meditation, open on weekdays to university students and staff as well as the general public. The center often hosts events such as weddings, memorials and public performances as well. Parking and restrooms are available on site.
Bat House and Barn
- Lake Alice Conservation Area's best-known feature may also be its most divisive. After all, the idea of watching hundreds of thousands of bats emerge from slumber every day isn't for everyone. The University of Florida is home to the world's largest occupied bat house. Across Museum Drive from Lake Alice, the University of Florida Bat House and Barn are home to approximately 300,000 bats, and if you visit around sunset on a warm summer evening, you can watch as they leave their roost to feast on flying insects above Lake Alice. The bats that live here are from three main species -- Brazilian free-tailed bat, Southeastern bat and evening bat -- and together they reduce the Lake Alice Conservation Area's insect population by about 2.5 billion every night.
Campus Attractions and Events
- The University of Florida offers a wide range of attractions, most of them within a few minutes of Lake Alice. Options include the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, which houses more than 8,000 original works of art, and the Florida Museum of Natural History, where you can view more than 25 million plant, animal and fossil specimens. Admission to both is free. The campus also hosts an ever-changing schedule of plays, concerts, performances and sporting events. Up-to-date information on upcoming campus events is available through the University of Florida website.
