Live in Buck Lake
The city's share of a large east-side alliance, more parkland and lake than houses, where the point is zoned for two schools the state graded A three years running and the nearest bus stop is 2.8 km away.
Buck Lake here is the part of the Bucklake Alliance's area that lies inside the City of Tallahassee: 4,898 of the alliance's 23,125 acres east of Capital Circle Northeast, over homeowners associations from Weems Plantation and Goose Creek to Easton and Swift Creek Woods. The 2020 census counted 5,721 residents inside it, but about 850 of them were on one block beside FCI Tallahassee, the federal prison that opened in 1938, so the household population was nearer 4,870. Tom Brown Park, Lafayette Heritage Trail Park, the J.R. Alford Greenway and most of the Lake Lafayette chain are inside the line, which is why a quarter of the area is in FEMA's flood zone while only 49 residents lived on blocks in it. No price index follows the line; Zillow's typical value for ZIP code 32317, which holds most of the residents and reaches far outside the city, was $410,837 in August 2026.
A wide line drawn around parkland, with subdivisions in the gaps
The Bucklake Alliance's area as the Tallahassee-Leon County GIS office (TLCGIS) maps it on its Open Neighborhoods layer (OBJECTID 281, an active neighborhood association marked as both City and County), clipped to the current City of Tallahassee limits and less the Piney Z Homeowners Association's area, which it overlaps: a line the alliance filed, not one the City drew, and about 4,898 of its 23,125 acres. Read against TLCGIS street centerlines, Capital Circle Northeast is the western edge and Conner Boulevard the southern one; Mahan Drive and Buck Lake Road run along much of the north side, and the city's share reaches northeast past Interstate 10 to Miccosukee Road and east along Rutledge, Walden and Nabb Roads. About three quarters of the edge is the City limits rather than the alliance's own line, and the area comes in eleven separate pieces. Piney Z's area, on the south side by Conner Boulevard, is left out; the 11,222 residents of the alliance's area who live outside the city are not counted.
Buck Lake on this page is not one subdivision. It is the part of the Bucklake Alliance's area inside the City of Tallahassee, less the Piney Z Homeowners Association's area, which overlaps it by Conner Boulevard. The alliance is an umbrella over homeowners associations east of Capital Circle Northeast, from Weems Plantation and Goose Creek to Easton and Swift Creek Woods. Its line is one the alliance filed and the joint City and County GIS office maps, not one the City drew, clipped here to the City limits. The alliance drew 23,125 acres; 4,898 are in the city, and the 11,222 residents of its area outside the city are not counted.
About 850 of the 5,721 residents are prisoners. The 2020 census counted 5,721 people and 1,811 housing units on the 91 blocks inside the line. One block held 853 people and no housing units, 70 meters from FCI Tallahassee, the low-security federal prison off Capital Circle Northeast that opened in January 1938 and mostly holds women. Without it the household population is about 4,870, close to 2.7 people a unit. Few are students: the two census tracts holding most residents put college enrollment near 5%, with wide margins.
Most of the land is not houses. Tom Brown Park, Lafayette Heritage Trail Park and the J.R. Alford Greenway, about 1,960 acres, lie wholly inside the line, with much of the Lake Lafayette chain, so a density figure means nothing. On the County's FEMA layer 25% of the area is special flood hazard area, most of it around the lakes, yet only 49 residents of 2020 lived on blocks whose center is in it. The reference point is in zone X on a panel dated 18 August 2009; read FEMA's map for the house, not a block. Flood here is rain and lake level, not surge. The City is in Class 5 of FEMA's Community Rating System, 25% off flood insurance in the flood zone.
The tax bill and the utility bill are the City's. Every parcel pays 19.2060 mills for 2025: City, County, EMS, schools, the Children's Services Council and the water management district. A homestead takes $25,000 off every levy and a second, indexed slice off all but the schools; Save Our Homes caps the assessment's rise at 3% a year and ends at a sale, so the seller's bill understates yours. Stormwater ($11.00 a month), garbage ($28.19) and a fire services fee come on the utility bill; the fee's amount was not found, and it has been under a lawsuit since 17 November 2025. Whether an address this far east buys power from the City or Talquin Electric was not mapped, and the subdivisions' dues were not read.
It is a place for a car. The nearest served StarMetro stop is 2.8 km from the reference point, on Conner Boulevard, where the Evergreen route comes hourly at midday and not on weekends. Zillow's typical value for ZIP code 32317, which runs far into the county, was $410,837 in August 2026; no index follows this line.
- Ask for the subdivision's own association documents and dues
- Check the address on FEMA's flood map: a quarter of the area is flood zone
- Run the address through the district's school zone lookup
- Ask the Property Appraiser what your assessment will be at your price
- Confirm whether the electric account is the City's or Talquin Electric's
How Buck Lake got here
- 1938The Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, opens in January on what is now Capital Circle Northeast, inside today's line; it is a low-security prison that mostly holds women.
- 1950Around this year two dams divide Lake Lafayette into three: Upper Lafayette, still a wet prairie, the 200-acre open water of Piney Z Lake, and the cypress of Lower Lafayette, in the City's account.
- 1977Tom Brown Park is dedicated on 30 January, named for Thomas Irvin Brown Jr., a Leon County commissioner for 14 years.
- 1983The City annexes about 626 acres of today's line, the first large piece inside the city on TLCGIS's annexation history layer.
- 1991Annexations in 1990 and 1991 bring in about 2,160 acres between them, the largest share of the area.
- 1996The City completes the 795-acre Lafayette Heritage Trail Park: the largest parcel, once part of the Piney Z Plantation, is bought from Grace Dansby in December 1995 and a second from Byron Block in June 1996, with the Florida Communities Trust.
- 1999The state's land trustees buy 881 acres from the Trust for Public Land for the J.R. Alford Greenway in June; Leon County takes over its management under a sublease in May 2001.
- 2001About 1,162 acres are annexed, the largest single year inside the line on the City's layer.
- 2016Hurricane Hermine comes ashore near St. Marks on 2 September; the National Hurricane Center counts about 65% of City electric customers without power and the National Weather Service about 80%.
- 2020The census counts 5,721 residents on the blocks inside the line, about 850 of them at the prison.
- 2024Hurricane Helene leaves roughly 53,000 City utility customers and 35,000 Talquin Electric customers without power at its peak in late September.
Tom Brown, Lafayette Heritage and the Alford Greenway, joined by the Lake Lafayette chain
Tom Brown Park, nearly 300 acres dedicated in 1977, has the ball fields, tennis and racquetball courts, the pump track, the dog park and the Magnolia mountain bike trail, and holds the City's Fourth of July. East of it, Lafayette Heritage Trail Park is 795 acres the City bought in 1995 and 1996 around Piney Z Lake, a 200-acre lake made when two dams split Lake Lafayette in about 1950, with a 2.95-mile shared-use trail, a fishing pier and a hand-launch ramp. The J.R. Alford Greenway, 881 acres the state bought in 1999 and the County runs, adds more than 21 miles of trail for walkers, cyclists and riders from Pedrick Road.
What the map does not show: Piney Z Lake is managed by the City with the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the parks close at sunset. Miccosukee Road, a canopy road, runs along the northeast edge; its 100-foot protection zone is drawn "for planning purposes" and covers 0.42% of the area. What the canopy road rules permit was not read.
Elsewhere in Tallahassee, not Buck Lake
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: distances and drive times are computed from a representative point in the populated block nearest the residents' center, near Buck Lake Elementary, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times. From the western edge, Capital Circle is much closer.
Every gym within reach
The exercise here is outdoors. The three parks inside the line carry the courts, fields and trails; the nearest City pool is Wade Wehunt, near downtown, and the County's nearest community center is in Chaires, outside the city. Private gyms were not looked for.
- Tom Brown Park: tennis and racquetball courts, sunrise to sunset
- Wade Wehunt Pool, 1206 Myers Park Drive: the nearest City pool, season not read
- Dorothy Cooper Spence Community Center, Chaires: the County's, programs not read
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Brown Park open | The City park inside the line: tennis and racquetball courts, ball fields, a pump track, disc golf and the Magnolia mountain bike trail, open sunrise to sunset. | 6–10 min |
| Lafayette Heritage Trail Park open | A 2.95-mile shared-use trail and 3.79 miles of mountain bike trail around Piney Z Lake, with a trailhead bike wash and an outdoor shower; free. | 5–8 min |
| J.R. Alford Greenway open | More than 21 miles of County-managed trail for running, riding and horses, from the trailhead off Pedrick Road; free. | 5–7 min |
| Dorothy Cooper Spence Community Center open | Leon County's community center at 4768 Chaires Cross Road, outside the city to the southeast; programs and hours were not read. | 9–14 min |
| Wade Wehunt Pool open | The nearest City pool on the TLCGIS parks layer, at 1206 Myers Park Drive near downtown, about 9 km away in a straight line; its season and hours were not read. | 13–20 min |
The free option is the trail network: Lafayette Heritage's shared-use trail, its mountain bike loop and the Alford Greenway's 21 miles, all inside the line.
Two A-graded schools inside the line, and four elementary zones
Leon County Schools assigns by address. The point is zoned for Buck Lake Elementary and Swift Creek Middle, both on Pedrick Road inside the line and both graded A by the state for 2026, 2025 and 2024, and for Lincoln High, graded B for 2026 after two years of C. The line is split: of the 5,721 residents of 2020, 1,299 were zoned for W. T. Moore Elementary, 876 for Apalachee and 38 for Conley, and 914 for Fairview Middle. Every resident was in Lincoln's zone.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Buck Lake Elementary School | Leon County Schools | 1600 Pedrick Road, inside the line. The point is zoned for it on the district's 2026-27 elementary layer, as were 3,508 of the 5,721 residents of 2020; the rest were zoned for W. T. Moore Elementary (1,299), Apalachee Elementary (876) and Conley Elementary (38). Graded A for 2026, 2025 and 2024; Moore was B, C and B over the same years and Apalachee C, C and D. |
| Swift Creek Middle School | Leon County Schools | 2100 Pedrick Road, inside the line. The point is zoned for it, as were 4,807 residents of 2020; the other 914 were zoned for Fairview Middle (graded A for 2026 after C for 2025). Swift Creek was graded A for 2026, 2025 and 2024. |
| Lincoln High School | Leon County Schools | 3838 Trojan Trail, south of Conner Boulevard, about 3.6 km from the point in a straight line. Every resident of 2020 was in its zone. Graded B for 2026 after C for 2025 and 2024. |
Check the address in the district's school zone lookup. The zone layers carry no edit date. The elementary change the School Board approved on 25 February 2025 moved Riley Elementary's lines on the west side, not these, but a layer can lag. The grades are the state's, as CBS12 republished them.
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 17.7 °C and lows near 4.7 °C at the airport, with about 10 nights at or below freezing on the 1991 to 2020 normal
- A tax bill paid in January takes a 2% discount; homestead eligibility turns on where you lived on 1 January
- About five nights at or below freezing and 109 mm of rain on the normal
- If you bought last year, the homestead application is due with the Leon County Property Appraiser by 1 March
- 1 March is the homestead deadline: up to $51,411 off the assessed value for 2026, the first $25,000 against every levy
- Highs near 23 °C and 133 mm of rain, the wettest month before summer
- Highs near 27 °C and 90 mm of rain: the Alford Greenway and the Lafayette Heritage trails are at their driest
- The Alford Greenway's 21 miles of trail are shared by walkers, cyclists and riders, with equestrian parking off Pedrick Road
- About 13 days reach 32 °C on the normal, and 85 mm of rain makes it the driest month of spring
- Highs near 31 °C
- The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November; here the risk is wind, falling trees and power cuts, not surge
- The wettest month on the normal, 197 mm, mostly in afternoon storms: a quarter of the area is FEMA flood zone around Lake Lafayette
- Celebrate America, the City's Fourth of July, is at Tom Brown Park inside the line; in 2026 it ran 6 to 10 p.m. with fireworks at 9:50 and StarMetro shuttles from 1500 Apalachee Parkway, and the 2027 details were not posted
- Highs near 33 °C and about 25 days at 32 °C or more
- The Property Appraiser mailed 2026's TRIM notices of proposed taxes on 17 August; a petition to the Value Adjustment Board is due by the 25th day after the mailing
- Highs near 33 °C and 193 mm of rain
- Hermine came ashore on 2 September 2016 and Helene late on 26 September 2024; both cut power to most City customers
- Highs near 31 °C and about 17 days at 32 °C
- 82 mm of rain and highs near 28 °C, the first comfortable month for the trails
- Michael's winds reached 41 knots sustained at the airport in October 2018; the City's fire services fee rose 9.98% on 1 October 2025
- A tax bill paid in November takes the largest discount, 4%
- Hurricane season ends on 30 November; the first freezing nights return, about two on the normal
- About seven nights at or below freezing and highs near 19 °C
- If you closed this year, the bill in hand was the seller's: Save Our Homes ends at a sale and the assessment goes to market value the next 1 January
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 geotagged in or near Buck Lake, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Tallahassee library.