Paynes Prairie, National Natural Landmark and State Park in Alachua County, Florida.

Paynes Prairie is a 21,000-acre savanna in the Paynes Prairie Basin between Micanopy and Gainesville, crossed by I-75 and U.S. 441. Its level ground holds low, patchy vegetation in green, tan and brown, with shallow standing water and a single small tree in the midground. Alachua Sink is the basin's main drain.

Before 1637 Francisco Menéndez Márquez, royal treasurer of Spanish Florida, established the La Chua ranch near the prairie; it covered 87 square miles and by the late 17th century was the colony's largest cattle ranch, raided by Native groups and French buccaneers and abandoned by 1706. By the mid-1700s the Alachua band of Seminoles under chief Ahaya the Cowkeeper held the prairie, and their town Cuscowilla stood near modern Micanopy. In 1813 Tennessee Volunteers destroyed Paynes Town, named for the Cowkeeper's son Payne. Florida acquired the land in 1970 and has restored it since.

The name Alachua comes from the Spanish Rancho de la Chua, a cattle ranch established before 1637. In 1774 William Bartram noted the Alachua Savannah as grazing ground for the Seminole. The prairie and the later Seminole town of Paynes Town were named after Payne, son of chief Ahaya the Cowkeeper.

The park lies between Micanopy and Gainesville, crossed by I-75 and U.S. 441, which has a scenic outlook ramp over the basin. A visitor center near the entrance explains the region's natural and cultural history, and an observation tower beside it gives a panorama of the prairie. Trails are open to hiking, horseback riding and cycling, and there is a launch site for canoes and electric-motor boats.

Bison were brought from Oklahoma in the mid-1970s to restore conditions that existed before European settlement; the species had disappeared from this region in the 19th century. The park also keeps small herds of mustangs and wild cattle descended from animals raised by the Seminoles.