Live in Whispering Pines
About 5,750 people on 1,290 acres between Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Florida's Turnpike, south of the C-24 canal, with a high school, an elementary school, the City's main pickleball and tennis courts and a Publix all inside the line, more renters than the grid around it, and the C-24 and a ponding area at its edges on FEMA's map.
Whispering Pines is a name the City of Port St. Lucie's Neighborhood Services program gives to 1,290 acres of the grid General Development Corporation began after it bought about 40,000 acres along the North Fork in 1958: the land between Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Florida's Turnpike south of the C-24 canal, crossed by Darwin and Tulip boulevards. The 2020 census counted 5,752 residents there, up about 20% from 4,785 on the same ground in 2010; owners lived in 71% of the 1,973 occupied homes, fewer than in the neighborhoods to the west, and the subdivisions inside include apartment and villa communities as well as the Parks Edge houses. Treasure Coast High School, Windmill Point Elementary and Whispering Pines Park, with the Minsky Gym, all sit on Darwin Boulevard inside the line. Zillow's typical value for ZIP code 34953, which holds every resident, was $397,936 in August 2026, but that ZIP held 77,023 people in 2020 and is not a Whispering Pines price.
The south end's neighborhood with its schools, courts and shops inside the line
The City of Port St. Lucie's Whispering Pines neighborhood: feature 18 on the NS_NEIGHBORHOODS layer behind the Neighborhood Services NICE program, planning area 4Nd, about 1,290 acres, clipped to the City's current limits as St. Lucie County's Municipal Boundaries layer draws them, which cut nothing off. Traced against the City's road classification layer and the neighboring features: Port St. Lucie Boulevard on the west, with Gatlin Pines and Hidden Oaks across it; the C-24 canal on the north, with Cashmere Cove across; Florida's Turnpike on the east, with Southbend Lakes beyond; and on the south a line shared with Paar Estates, Sawgrass Lakes and Tulip Park, much of it along Tulip Boulevard. Darwin Boulevard crosses the southern half from Port St. Lucie Boulevard, and Tulip Boulevard loops through from the north-west to the south-east; Gatlin Boulevard ends at the western edge. On the City Sections layer more than half of it is General Development's section 41 and about a third section 42, with the Darwin Square, Darwin Plaza and Sympatico Plaza shopping centers and the Villas of Windmill Point. The City's Subdivisions layer has Parks Edge, a property owners' association, and the Villas of Windmill Point II and Villas of Rosewood, typed as apartments, inside. All of it is in ZIP code 34953 and St. Lucie Public Schools' Red zone; 3,860 residents are in City Council District 4 and 1,892 in District 3; and no resident was in a community development district or a community redevelopment area in 2020.
The line and the name are the City's map, not a subdivision. Whispering Pines is one of the 36 neighborhoods Port St. Lucie draws for its Neighborhood Services program: about 1,290 acres of the grid General Development Corporation began after buying land along the North Fork in 1958, between Port St. Lucie Boulevard on the west and Florida's Turnpike on the east, with the C-24 canal along the north. Darwin and Tulip boulevards run through it. Whether residents use the name was not checked. The 2020 census counted 5,752 residents, up about 20% from 4,785 on the same ground in 2010.
What its neighbors lack is inside this line. On one stretch of SW Darwin Boulevard sit Treasure Coast High School, opened in 2006 and enrolling 3,144 in 2023-24; Windmill Point Elementary, with 1,056 children in 2024-25; and Whispering Pines Park, 37 acres with the City's Minsky Gym, 24 lit pickleball courts and six tennis courts. The Publix at Darwin Square is on Port St. Lucie Boulevard, and ART's route 5 stops twice inside the line. Gatlin Pines, across the boulevard, has no park or school inside at all. Whether all that brings traffic to Darwin at school times was not measured for this guide: drive it at 7 a.m. before an offer.
It is a more mixed neighborhood than the grid around it. Owners lived in 71% of the 1,973 occupied homes in 2020 and 565 were rented, against 84% owned in Gatlin Pines and Rosser Reserve to the west. The City's subdivisions map puts the Villas of Windmill Point and the Villas of Rosewood, both typed as apartments, inside the line, alongside Parks Edge, a property owners' association of about 1,360 residents. If you buy to live in a house, note that the property appraiser removes the homestead exemption for any year a home is rented on 1 January.
Two things on the hazard maps, neither of them a hurricane zone. FEMA's effective map of 2020 puts 4.1% of the area, and 277 residents, in the 1% annual chance flood zone: a shallow ponding zone near the Turnpike in the south-east and a strip along the C-24 at the north. The reference point is Zone X, and no resident is in a County hurricane evacuation zone. But every resident is in Zone 5 of the evacuation areas around the St. Lucie nuclear plant on Hutchinson Island: a planning area for an emergency there, not a hazard rating. The swale and culvert out front are the owner's to keep clear, and a homeowners policy does not cover flood.
No price index follows the City's line. Every resident is in ZIP code 34953, where Zillow's typical value was $397,936 in August 2026, down 0.4% on the year, but the ZIP held 77,023 people. Every address pays the same seventeen levies, 22.3097 mills for 2025, and no community development district reaches here. A homesteaded buyer at the ZIP's figure owes about $7,920 a year on the base exemption amounts, a landlord about $8,878, and the City's solid waste and stormwater assessments add about $656, which no exemption reduces. Save Our Homes resets on a sale, so the seller's bill understates yours. A lot still on a well and septic tank costs $18,821 to connect to City water and sewer. The arithmetic is on the Port St. Lucie page.
- Drive the street at drop-off and on a weekday evening before an offer
- Run the address on FEMA's map: the ponding zone near the Turnpike and the C-24 strip are the 1% areas
- Estimate the tax at your purchase price, and ask whether the house was rented on 1 January
- Ask the City's utility whether the lot is on City water and sewer, and look at the swale and culvert out front
How Whispering Pines got here
- 1958General Development Corporation buys about 40,000 acres along the North Fork of the St. Lucie River and begins the grid of lots and canals this neighborhood is part of.
- 1961Port St. Lucie becomes a city on 27 April, by an act of the Florida Legislature.
- 1992The City establishes Whispering Pines Park on SW Darwin Boulevard, in the City's account; its parks layer gives 1990 for the park and 1992 for the Robert E. Minsky Gymnasium inside it.
- 2006Treasure Coast High School opens at 1000 SW Darwin Boulevard, inside the line.
- 2010The census counts about 4,785 residents and 1,954 homes on the ground of today's neighborhood.
- 2017Hurricane Irma's rain, from 9 to 12 September, measures 10.36 inches at a Port St. Lucie gauge and 21.66 inches near Fort Pierce, the most anywhere in the state.
- 2020FEMA's revised map panel for the area takes effect on 19 February. The census counts 5,752 residents and 2,101 homes inside the line; 565 of the 1,973 occupied homes are rented.
- 2022Treasure Coast High earns its first A from the state, for 2021-22.
- 2025Windmill Point Elementary enrolls 1,056 children from prekindergarten to grade 5 in 2024-25, in the federal count.
- 2026The state grades Windmill Point B for a third year and gives Treasure Coast High an incomplete. The City raises its stormwater assessment to $189 and its solid waste assessment to $482.16 a house.
The City's racket courts and gym, on Darwin Boulevard inside the line
Whispering Pines Park, at 800 SW Darwin Boulevard, is a sports park rather than a green one: the Racket and Paddle Center's 24 pickleball courts and six tennis courts, all lit with shaded grandstands, the 8,000-square-foot Minsky Gym, the Skate City roller rink, four lit ball fields, two lit football fields, three pavilions and a playground, open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The City dates it to 1992; its own parks layer says 1990. The photographs here are of parks elsewhere in the city, not this one.
What the map does not show: for a trail or a lake, the nearest are Jessica Clinton Park across the Turnpike and O.L. Peacock Sr. Park in Rosser Reserve, the second closed for a rebuild since November 2025.
Elsewhere in Port St. Lucie, not Whispering Pines
21 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 21 places, nearest first.
Method: straight lines from the population-weighted center of Whispering Pines' 2020 census blocks, times a road factor, with a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times.
Every gym within reach
The Minsky Gymnasium and Racket and Paddle Center are inside the line. The City's fitness room is on the East Side, and the County's Ravenswood Community Pool is to the north.
- Minsky Gymnasium: about 1.4 km, open daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Racket and Paddle Center: about 1.4 km, courts lit to 9:30 p.m.
- Fitness & Wellness Center: about 10.5 km, on the East Side
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Robert E. Minsky Gymnasium open | The City's 8,000-square-foot gymnasium inside Whispering Pines Park at 750 SW Darwin Boulevard, inside the line: two volleyball courts or one basketball court, open daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for programs and rentals. | 4–6 min |
| Whispering Pines Park Racket and Paddle Center open | The City's court complex beside the gym: 24 pickleball courts and six tennis courts, one of them a tournament court, all lit and with shaded grandstands, open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. with the lights off at 9:30 p.m.; beginner tennis from $60 a month. | 4–6 min |
| Fitness & Wellness Center at the MIDFLORIDA Event Center open | The City's fitness room with strength machines, treadmills and free weights to 100 pounds, at 9221 SE Event Center Place on the East Side: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends. | 12–18 min |
| Ravenswood Community Pool open | St. Lucie County's pool at 400 SW Ravenswood Lane, the only public pool the County's parks layer lists in the city. Its season and hours were not read: the County's pages refused requests. | 10–15 min |
| Jessica Clinton Park open | The free option with a trail: the City's 20-acre park across the Turnpike, with basketball and tennis courts and a playground. | 6–9 min |
The free option is the playground and fields at Whispering Pines Park, or the trail at Jessica Clinton Park across the Turnpike.
The assigned high school is inside the line, and so is an elementary no one is zoned to
Every address is in St. Lucie Public Schools. High schools are assigned by address, and the district's locator gives Treasure Coast High for every resident: graded B for 2025, its state grade for 2026 is I, incomplete. Kindergarten to grade 8 is choice within the Red zone; Windmill Point Elementary, graded B, is one of nine schools listed for ZIP 34953, not a zoned school, even next door.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Treasure Coast High School | St. Lucie Public Schools | 1000 SW Darwin Boulevard, inside the line, grades 9 to 12, opened in 2006. High schools are assigned by address, and the district's SchoolSite Locator gives this one at the reference point and for the study area it names Whispering Pines, which holds all 5,752 residents. It enrolled 3,144 in 2023-24. The state's 2026 grade is I, incomplete; it was graded B for 2025 and 2024 and earned its first A for 2021-22. Run the exact address in the locator. |
| Windmill Point Elementary School | St. Lucie Public Schools | 700 SW Darwin Boulevard, inside the line, prekindergarten to grade 5, with 1,056 children in 2024-25. Kindergarten to grade 8 is choice: no address is zoned to it, even next door. It is one of the nine schools the district lists for the Red zone and ZIP 34953. Graded B for 2026, 2025 and 2024. |
| Oak Hammock K-8 School | St. Lucie Public Schools | 1251 SW California Boulevard, north of the C-24 canal, the nearest district school with grades 6 to 8 and another Red zone choice. Graded C for 2026, B for 2025 and C for 2024. The district does not promise a bus to a school outside the ZIP's transportation area. |
Run your own address in the district's SchoolSite Locator, and rank K-8 schools in open enrollment, 1 to 31 March in 2026. The grades are the state's file as CBS12 republished it, because the state's own site refused requests.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Highs near 23 °C and lows near 11 °C at Treasure Coast International Airport, 27 km north, on the 1991 to 2020 normals, with about one night a year at or below freezing
- St. Lucie Public Schools' high school enrollment and early K-8 enrollment both ran 1 to 31 January in 2026
- The New York Mets open spring training at Clover Park, about 9 km north-west, on 19 February 2027, the first of 15 home dates
- The driest month on the normals, about 55 mm of rain
- If you bought last year, the homestead exemption is due with the property appraiser by 1 March, with proof of residency dated before 1 January
- 1 March is the deadline for the homestead exemption
- K-8 open enrollment ran 1 to 31 March in 2026: rank the Red zone's schools then, Windmill Point among them
- The Mets' last home game at Clover Park is 20 March 2027; highs near 26 °C
- Highs near 28 °C and lows near 16 °C, with about 77 mm of rain
- Evenings on the lit pickleball and tennis courts at Whispering Pines Park, which stay open to 10 p.m.
- Highs near 30 °C, with about five days reaching 32 °C
- About 100 mm of rain as the wet season begins: check that the swale and driveway culvert in front of the house are clear, which is the owner's job
- The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November
- About 170 mm of rain, most of it in afternoon thunderstorms, and about 13 days reaching 32 °C
- Highs near 32 °C and lows near 23 °C, with about 18 days reaching 32 °C
- About 149 mm of rain, most of it in afternoon thunderstorms; the ponding zone near the Turnpike is where FEMA maps standing water
- The property appraiser mails the TRIM notice of proposed taxes in mid-August, and a petition to the Value Adjustment Board is due 25 days after the mailing (8 September in 2026)
- The wettest month on the normals, about 176 mm, with about 19 days reaching 32 °C
- The hurricane season peaks around 10 September; Irma's rain fell from 9 to 12 September 2017, 10.36 inches at a Port St. Lucie gauge
- About 159 mm of rain
- The City's fiscal year starts on 1 October, and with it the solid waste assessment of $482.16 a house for 2026-27
- Highs near 29 °C and about 133 mm of rain as the wet season ends; hurricane season has two months to run
- Amendment 3 on the November 2026 ballot would raise the non-school homestead exemption from 1 January 2027 if 60% of voters approve
- Hurricane season ends on 30 November; highs near 26 °C and about 77 mm of rain
- Highs near 24 °C and lows near 13 °C, with about 59 mm of rain, the start of the dry season
- A freezing night comes about once a winter on the normals
Every photograph in this guide's library is above
This library holds 6 photographs and the page has already printed all of them, each once. The credits are in the footer.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images from the site's shared Port St. Lucie library, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. None of them is presented as a photograph of Whispering Pines.