Paynes Creek Historic State Park, Historic state park in Hardee County, United States

Paynes Creek Historic State Park occupies 410 acres (166 hectares) in Hardee County, Florida, on Lake Branch Road half a mile southeast of Bowling Green. The park protects the site of Fort Chokonikla, a blockhouse and military cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, set beside Paynes Creek near its junction with the Peace River.

A trading post run by Capt. George Payne and Dempsey Whidden was built in spring 1849 near present-day Bowling Green; both men were killed there on July 17, 1849. Fort Chokonikla was established on October 26, 1849, its name from the Seminole term for "burnt store." Malaria forced the garrison to vacate on July 18, 1850, after less than nine months.

The creek was renamed Payne's Creek after the store's co-proprietor George Payne, killed with Dempsey Whidden in the July 17, 1849 attack. The fort's name is thought to come from the Seminole "Chocka-nickler", meaning "burnt store", also spelled Chokkonickla or Chokhonikla at the time.

The park lies on Lake Branch Road, half a mile southeast of Bowling Green, and is open from 8 am until sundown every day of the year, holidays included. Canoeing, kayaking, fishing, geocaching and bird or butterfly watching are possible, and three picnic pavilions are available. The visitor center holds a museum recreating pioneer life.

The fort's name comes from the Seminole word "Chocka-nickler", meaning "burnt store", a reference to the trading post destroyed in 1849. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 1978, as the Payne's Creek Massacre-Fort Chokonikla Site.