It is protected as a 16-mile (26 km) long Florida State Park and runs from the City of Gainesville's Boulware Springs Water Works to the town of Hawthorne.

The property was purchased by the state of Florida from CSX Transportation with money from the "trails from rails" program in late 1989.

[2] At the entrance of Witness Tree Junction, a trailhead along the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, a trio of live oak trees sport carvings demanding notice of Colonel Daniel Newnan and his 100 soldiers' march to capture runaway Black Seminoles during the Patriot War of 1812.

Other trailheads with parking include (1) intersection of county roads 234 and 2082, Rochelle (at Prairie Creek Preserve); (2) 7902 S.E.

[4] The Paynes Prairie portion of the trail is open from 8 a.m. until sunset, 365 days a year.