Things to Do in Riverview, FL

Riverview has been the fastest growing part of Hillsborough County for years, and it shows in the traffic and the rooftops. Twenty years ago this was farmland and a few subdivisions off US 301. Now it is one of the largest communities in the county and still adding.

The three Riverviews

People here talk about Riverview as three areas. North Riverview along Riverview Drive and Symmes is the older part, closest to Brandon. The Winthrop area around Bloomingdale and Providence has the town center and the newer commercial. And south Riverview along Big Bend and Boyette is where most of the new construction is going.

The river, and what it means

The Alafia splits the town, and that single fact shapes everything. There are only four crossings: US 301, I-75, Bell Shoals Road and Riverview Drive. Anything that closes one pushes the whole town onto the others.

It also gives Riverview something the rest of east county does not have, which is real water access. Riverview Civic Center at 11020 Park Drive sits on the south bank with a one-lane boat ramp and dock, a canoe and kayak launch, a fishing pier, playground, restrooms, grills and covered shelters, plus meeting rooms you can rent. Park entry is free and the boat launch is $5, with annual passes available. The river runs downstream to Tampa Bay from there. Note the posted no-wake zones, and that swimming, wading and diving are prohibited.

Pebble Park on Riverview Drive is twenty-seven acres of conservation land along the same river, with a quarter-mile paved trail and a half-mile natural surface trail, shelters, and great egrets and black-bellied whistling ducks. One thing to know before you load the kayak: despite sitting on the Alafia, Pebble Park has no water access.

The preserves

This is the part of Riverview nobody writes about, and it is close to two thousand acres.

Triple Creek Nature Preserve, 13305 Balm Boyette Road, is 969 acres of creek system, hardwood wetlands and uplands. The county calls it a critical link between preserved lands, because it connects Rhodine Scrub and Balm-Boyette Scrub into one extended trail system. Hiking, birding, picnic tables, pets allowed.

Bell Creek Nature Preserve, 10940 McMullen Road, is 477 acres east of McMullen and south of Boyette, with trails through mature trees and open grassland. Fishing is allowed here, which is not true of all of them.

Rhodine Scrub Nature Preserve, 12108 Rhodine Road, is 448 acres with two trails totalling two miles through Florida scrub and around an open-water marsh. Gnatcatchers, mockingbirds, blue jays and catbirds; raccoons, bobcats, opossums, black racers and gopher tortoises. It adjoins Stephen J. Wortham Park, which has its own walking trails through hardwood hammock.

Alafia Scrub Nature Preserve, 10243 Elbow Bend Road, is the small one at eighty acres, and arguably the best walk. Hammock, scrub, creeks, ravines, shoreline and tidal marsh, on two marked loops of 0.8 and 1.3 miles, with a river viewpoint about half a mile in. The county acquired it in 1998 through the Jan K. Platt Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program.

For ball fields and playgrounds there is Riverview Park and Recreation Center on Capitano Street, Providence West Park on Providence Road, and both are free.

The library

Riverview Public Library, 9951 Balm Riverview Road, is 35,000 square feet and does not look like a branch library. There is a recording studio, a makerspace, an Early Learning HIVE, eight meeting rooms and a cafe. The terrazzo floor carries a mural called River of Fire by Barry Goodman, the stained glass depicts local flora and fauna, there is a covered screened reading porch, and the garden outside has granite book benches. It opened April 5, 2021, replacing the branch that had served Riverview since 1979.

Schools

Riverview has three public high schools inside its boundaries, which is unusual for an unincorporated community.

Riverview High School, 11311 Boyette Road, are the Sharks. Their motto is Attack as One and they run on three stated values, attendance, attitude and academics. It is a designated Purple Star campus for its support of military-connected students. Spoto High School on Eagle Palm Drive are the Spartans. Sumner High School on County Road 672 are the Stingrays and opened in 2020.

For middle school, Rodgers Middle Magnet School is on Tucker Road and Giunta Middle School, the Giants, is on South Falkenburg.

The chamber

The Brandon Riverview Chamber of Commerce is headquartered here, at 6437 Watson Road, which surprises people given the name. Its signature events run across both communities: Trick or Treat Street in October, the Brandon Parade of Lights in December, the Political Hob Nob, the Community Health and Wellness Fair, a back-to-school teacher supply drive, and the Brandon Riverview Wonder Women breakfast on the second Wednesday of February, May, August and November.

Getting around

US 301 and I-75 run north-south; Big Bend, Gibsonton, Boyette, Balm Riverview and Symmes run east-west. The predictable jams are Big Bend at I-75, Big Bend at US 301, Boyette at Bell Shoals, and 301 through the core.

Locals take Bell Shoals north into Brandon, or use Rhodine and Balm Riverview to skirt 301 altogether. Bell Shoals is a real route now: the county finished widening 3.1 miles of it to four divided lanes with sidewalks and a widened Alafia bridge, fully open since December 15, 2023.

Riverview has more active state road construction than anywhere else in east county. FDOT currently lists a diverging diamond interchange at I-75 and Gibsonton Drive, intersection work on US 301 at Big Bend, a new concrete intersection at 301 and Gibsonton with repaving from Whitt to Rivercrest, resurfacing on 301 from Balm Riverview to Lake St. Charles, sidewalk work on 301 from Bloomingdale to Crescent Park, and interstate lighting upgrades on I-75.

A diverging diamond is worth knowing about before you drive one. Traffic briefly crosses to the opposite side of the road between two signals, which lets both left turns onto the interstate go without waiting for oncoming traffic. It feels wrong the first time and moves considerably more cars.

What we cover here

Road construction and what it does to your commute, new development, high school sports at Riverview, Spoto and Sumner, the preserves and the river, and the businesses opening along Big Bend and in Winthrop.