John Stretch Park Lake Okeechobee Florida

John Stretch Park located near the small town of South Bay in southern Florida is an interesting place to take a little break from the long drive up highway 27 from Fort Lauderdale or Miami on your way to parts unknown .

Situated on Lake Okeechobee , it is a small park featuring some of the old pumps and equipment that had been used in the past to control the flooding in this part of the state .

Shown here is an old Nordberg 1655 Horse Power diesel engine that served for many years. This 11 cylinder engine only consumed 65 gallons of fuel per hour, and thus was capable of pumping 1,861,392,900 gallons of water in the same time period.

With the advent of newer more efficient engines it was retired in 1989.
 Bring your picnic basket as there are plenty of tables available to enjoy a small lunch before resuming you journey.