The park takes its name from the Mickler family, pronounced Mike-ler, who have lived in St. Johns County since the 1820s and built their home in the community of Palm Valley. In the 1930s, the Mickler family and other Palm Valley residents constructed a 600-foot-long pier extending into the Atlantic Ocean, built from palm logs with live oak decking. The pier included a windmill that brought water up through a pulley system for live bait. A hurricane destroyed the pier in the 1940s, but at very low tides palm log posts still emerge from the sand as a reminder of the seaside community's history.