From Georgia to Tallahassee, the landscape is dominated by substantial red clay hills covered with oaks and other hardwoods, but as you go south of Tallahassee the land changes first to gently rolling then to nearly flat as you get nearer to the coast. The soil is a sandy gray, and pines predominate. The natural bridge is in the southern part of Leon County near its boundary with Wakulla County. There is plenty of parking at the head of the Trail. You could not miss the natural bridge if you were passing down the St. Marks River by boat.
Boaters suddenly find their route barred by an apparently solid land mass.
The river gently drains into an underground cavern for less than a hundred feet, then rises placidly back up to the surface and continues on. But traveling by land, and not being apprised of the proximity of the natural bridge by the battle monument, one could easily pass over the St. Marks River on the natural bridge and pay it no more attention than when passing by any wet spots beside the road. The line of the river is concealed by vegetation and by bends. A look at a map reveals that at the natural bridge Union forces were as close to Tallahassee if not closer, than they were to St. Marks. But from where they landed near the St. Marks Lighthouse, to flank Fort Ward, or to threaten or take Tallahassee, the Union forces had to cross both the East River and the St. Marks River.