The communities surrounding The Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail have a long, rich
history that begins approximately 20,000 years ago during the last Glacial Period and is
closely linked to three bodies of water – the Atlantic Ocean, the Halifax River and the
Tomoka River. The Halifax River is actually an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that thrusts
northward from Ponce de Leon Inlet to the south and splits the land into two sections.
The Tomoka Basin, the source of the Halifax River, is located about twenty-three miles
north of Ponce de Leon Inlet and is fed from the southwest by the Tomoka River, a
fresh water river. The surrounding lands are located on the Silver Bluff Terrace – an
ancient ocean bottom. Giant ground sloths, saber-toothed tigers, mastodons, and
prehistoric horses once roamed the forests surrounding these waters. On the east side
of the Halifax River is a narrow peninsula approximately a mile wide. The northern most
portion of the peninsula in Volusia County is known as Ormond-By-The-Sea. Following
the peninsula south from the Flagler County line for about 8 miles brings us to the City
of Ormond Beach, which is separated by the Halifax River into beachside and mainland
segments. The northern mainland side of The Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail corridor
sits in unincorporated Volusia County.
Descendants of primitive Asiatics, who came to be known as Indians, migrated to
Florida approximately twelve thousand years ago. They came to hunt the mammoths,
musk oxen and caribou. These early inhabitants hunted and fished along the Halifax and Tomoka Rivers, leaving behind mounds filled with broken pottery, arrowheads, and
shellfish remains. The earliest inhabitants of the area that we have knowledge of are
the Timucuan Indians who lived along the banks of the Halifax and Tomoka Rivers
during the early 1500's. Their primary settlement was called Nocoroco and is thought to
be located in what now is Tomoka State Park, which faces the Tomoka Basin and
welcomes visitors through its entrance on North Beach Street, the western limb of the
Ormond Scenic Loop & Trail. Nocoroco was mentioned in a 1569 memorial to the king
of Spain by Captain Antonio de Prado who noted that the village was situated between
two rivers (now known as Tomoka and Halifax). Princess Issena of the Timucuan Indian
Tribe married French Huguenot nobleman Ernst D'Erlach in 1566. An engraved rock
marks the site near the primitive church on the northwest corner of the Granada Bridge.
In 1605, Spanish explorer Alvaro Mexia mapped the area. Prehistoric shell middens
are located along John Anderson Drive containing the remains of oysters harvested by
these peoples from the river and tiny coquina clams gathered from the ocean side.
Bones of shark, sea turtle and manatee are also found in these significant archeological
sites. Because of this bounty of river and sea, the natives who lived in villages once
located along the Halifax and Tomoka Rivers never practiced agriculture until the arrival
of the Spanish. The Timucuan villages of Cacaroy and Cicale are believed to have
been located along the banks of the Halifax River in present day Ormond-By-The-Sea.
The Cacaroy settlement is believed to have been located just south of Bicentennial
Park, with the Cicale settlement approximately one mile further south along the banks of
the river. The Timucuans disappeared entirely by the early 1800's, perhaps decimated
by diseases brought by European settlers.
At the end of the Seven Years War in Europe, Spain ceded Florida to the British in
exchange for Cuba. Britain gave out many land grants to settlers, including 20,000
acres to Richard Oswald in 1766. Mount Oswald became a rice and indigo plantation,
encompassing what is now Tomoka State Park. There are eleven known plantation
sites within the Tomoka State Park area all of which can be seen and are accessible
from the Ormond Scenic Loop & Trail. During the survey of these land grants, the
Halifax River received its name in honor of Lord Halifax. Later, Florida reverted to
Spain and Mount Oswald and other early plantations fell into ruins. Spanish land grants
of the early 1800's brought a new wave of settlers from the Bahamas. Spain remained in possession of Florida from 1783 until 1821, when it became a United States territory.
Some of the earliest settlers to the area included James and George Anderson, who
came to Ormond with a Spanish land grant and took over what had been Mount
Oswald. Loop road John Anderson Drive is named after their family. Captain James
Ormond received a 2,000-acre land grant that he called Damietta Plantation. James
Ormond II died in 1829 and is buried in Ormond Tomb Park located on Old Dixie
Highway. A landmark of the second Spanish period is located in the vicinity of Pine
Tree Drive. What was once the Addison Land Grant was later sold in part to the
McCrae brothers. This landmark, known as the McCrae Plantation Ruins and Addison
Blockhouse, are important examples of 19th century plantation architecture. This
plantation, like many in the area, was destroyed during the Second Seminole War. The
effective reprisals of the Seminole Indians in 1835-36 laid waste to the plantation
economy in this part of the state, from which it never recovered. During the course of
the next fifty years, these lands lay dormant allowing nature to take its course.
In the 1870's, a new wave of settlers arrived, including a group employed by the Corbin
Lock Company of New Britain, Connecticut, who named the area New Britain. In 1876
Chauncey A. Bacon, an architect and Civil War veteran from New Britain, Connecticut,
purchased 172 acres in present day Ormond-By-The-Sea and named it the Number
Nine Plantation. Mrs. Bacon became the first teacher in the colony of New Britain,
present day Ormond Beach. In her book Ormond-On-The-Halifax, Alice Strickland
describes the site: "The land was covered with a dense, tangled forest of palmettos, scrub oaks, and pine trees which Bacon cleared out with axe and grub hoe. The
Bacon's first home was a palmetto cabin, but later Bacon built a small, two story house
with a large coquina rock fireplace on top of the Indian shell mound. Eventually this
house became the 'jelly house' where Jennie Bacon, and their son, Earl, made delicious
jams, jellies, and preserves that were sold on the property and also shipped to all parts
of the country." The Bacons constructed a third home, which still stands on John
Anderson Drive, from salvaged mahogany logs that washed ashore from the wreck of
the City of Vera Cruz. The Number Nine was a favorite picnic ground for the early
settlers of New Britain with picnickers and other guests traveling by boat on the Halifax
River since no roads along the riverfront on the east side of the Halifax River existed.
The Bostrom brothers came to what is now called Riverside Drive and built a fine home
called Bosarve, which means "Home Place" in Swedish. Like the Bacons, the Bostroms
built three homes altogether on the same site; the first was a palmetto shack, then a
two-story frame house and eventually a third home with some of the lumber coming
from Jacksonville and some salvaged from ship wrecks. Alice Strickland's book
describes the shingles as being homemade and "the bricks for the chimney were
pilfered from old plantation ruins". Bosarve, which is still filled with magnificent old oak
trees, was torn down in recent years and a modern home now occupies the site.
Alice Strickland also gives us an accounting of the tragic shipwrecks that occurred
during the hurricane season of 1880, the most severe storms ever experienced by the
early settlers. Strickland wrote: "The largest of these ships was the City of Vera Cruz,
bound from New York to Havana, which was carrying over a hundred passengers. As
the ship broke up in the immense waves, passengers and crew were thrown into the
sea, and only a few reached shore alive…the settlers formed a sort of vigilance
committee to bury the human bodies strewn along the beach north of Ormond and
which were being attacked by wild hogs. Sixty-seven of these bodies were interred in
one huge pit dug back of the first row of dunes just north of Number Nine Plantation.
For many years a large timber set upright in the ground marked the spot, but was finally
destroyed by woods fires". The first cottage built on the beach was constructed from
salvaged materials from the Vera Cruz and named in the ship's honor. In the 1880's
this cottage rented in the summer for $30 per month. At the time of his death in 1911,
John Anderson bequest the Vera Cruz cottage to William Fagen. In December of 1896,
another fierce hurricane grounded the Nathan Cobb just offshore. Citizens of Ormond
attempted a rescue of the crew despite high rough surf. One resident and several crew
members perished. Salvage from the Nathan Cobb was used to build a cottage, also
called the Nathan Cobb, on Orchard Lane just north of the Hotel Ormond. The cottage
stands today and is accessible from John Anderson Drive.
The first bridge over the Halifax River was built in 1887 and connected the peninsula
and the mainland. Today Granada Boulevard and a graceful high-rise descendant of
the first Halifax River Bridge form the southern border of the Ormond Scenic Loop &
Trail. John Anderson and J.D. Price bought part of the Bostrom property and built the
first wing of the Hotel Ormond, along with winter visitor and Wall Street broker Stephen
Van Cullen White, which opened on January 1, 1888. Many wealthy travelers stopped
here, including John D. Rockefeller who rented a complete floor of the hotel. Other
notable travelers included Henry Ford, Will Rogers, and the Prince of Wales. In 1890,
Henry Morison Flagler purchased the structure and enlarged it. In 1904, Flagler added
the Ormond Garage on the hotel property. The 104-year-old hotel is now gone,
demolished on May 26, 1992, and recently replaced by the Heritage Condominium.
The restored hotel cupola, now a small museum displaying memorabilia, is located in
Fortunato Park across the street from the original site, visible from both John Anderson
Drive and Granada Boulevard. Hammock House, which was built in 1878 by the hotel's
co-founder J.D. Price, still stands at 311 John Anderson Drive and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
On December 18, 1918, John D. Rockefeller made Ormond Beach his winter home by
moving into "The Casements", a three-story house on the corner of Granada and
Riverside Drive which borders the Halifax River. On May 23, 1937, Rockefeller passed
away while at The Casements. The Rockefeller family sold the home in 1941 and it
became a junior college for young women. The property changed hands a number of
times after that with the citizens fighting off efforts to redevelop the property as
condominiums in the 1970's. The City of Ormond Beach purchased the property in
1973 and the building was restored and preserved as a cultural and civic center for the
community. The Casements is one of the premier historical landmarks along the
Ormond Scenic Loop & Trail.
A subscription for a church building was started in 1884 and a river front lot at the
corner of Lincoln and Beach Streets was donated. Lumber for the church was ordered
from Jacksonville, but the schooner carrying it ran aground and the captain could not
get it afloat. Community members got the lumber from the schooner and crafted it into
a raft. Working all night, the group poled the raft six miles to Ormond where, with help
from other citizens, they carried the lumber ashore, dried it and then began construction
of the church building. The Ormond Union Church was incorporated September 21,
1888. Next door is the Anderson Price Memorial Building which is on the National
Register of Historic Places. This building served as the home of the Village Improvement Association in the early 20th century and was the first public library in
Ormond Beach. Across from the church, directly on the Halifax River, is the Ormond
Yacht Club, which was built in 1910 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The wooden clubhouse stands stalwartly over the water at the end of its pier, a striking
component of the viewshed at the south end of the Ormond Scenic Loop & Trail.
Further north at 166 N. Beach Street stands the William McNary house. William
McNary lied about his age when he enlisted with his son, Clarence, to fight for the Union
in the Civil War because he was too old for conscription. McNary had been a
cabinetmaker for the Corbin Lock Company in Connecticut and this family became one
of the most prominent in the colony. Immediately north of the McNary house is the Dix
House, which was built for Mrs. McNary's sisters, Ruth and Eliza Dix. Originally built as
almost identical houses, the Dix House retains its open upper and lower porches and is
on the National Register of Historic Places. It was here that the citizens of then New
Britain voted to incorporate the city under the name Ormond Beach on April 22, 1880.
The first meeting of the Ormond City Council took place at the Dix House on May 8,
1880.
The 1920's brought a real estate boom to both mainland and beachside Ormond Beach.
In 1926 Oceanshore Boulevard (A1A) was constructed and opened the forbidding
wilderness of scrub jungle that existed between St. Augustine and Ormond Beach. This
improved access led to the beginning of residential subdivisions along the peninsula. In
the early 1950's a residential construction boom started in the beachside area north of
Ormond Beach. One of the first subdivisions was called "Ormond-By-The-Sea", a name
that eventually became the identity for that community. Between Ormond-by-the-Sea
and the Flagler County line to the north lays North Peninsula State Park. Nearly three
miles long and extending across the peninsula from ocean to river, the park is a pristine
undeveloped dune scrub, an ecosystem that has nearly vanished from the rest of
Florida's east coast. It is here that the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail will meet the A1A
Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway, with the intent of receiving national status as well.
Five days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States entrance into World
War II, fifteen local individuals along with some New Smyrna Beach residents took the
qualifying exams for the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary
Flotilla 44, called Flotilla 1-3 during World War II, manned the lookout tower in Ormond-
By-The-Sea around the clock as they searched the coast for German submarines. This
restored structure still stands today. A wooden tower in the rear of the Ormond Beach
fire station on East Granada Avenue also became a watchtower. Flotilla 44, Daytona
Beach – 7th CG District, is one of the oldest Coast Guard Auxiliary flotillas in the United
States. Flotilla 1-3 (present day Flotilla 44) was formally chartered on December 18,
1941. German submarines arrived off the Atlantic Coast in January 1942. By May of
that year, 180 vessels had been sunk. The Coast Guard Auxiliary responded to aid the
sinking vessels and rescued those who were forced to abandon ship. At times, people
on the beach could see these U-boat engagements. In addition to their responsibilities
for patrolling the beaches of Volusia and Flagler Counties, members of Flotilla 1-3 also
conducted river patrols on the Intracoastal Waterway and patrolled the offshore waters
of the Atlantic Ocean searching for harbor infiltrators and enemy submarines.
Stanley Steamer cars came to Ormond Beach on January 24, 2006 to celebrate the
100th anniversary of a Stanley car setting the most famous land speed record on the beach on January 26, 1906. Stanley car owners came from as far away as Great
Britain to mark the anniversary. Owners prefer to drive the cars rather than display
them; they all raved about the magnificent beauty when they completed driving "The
Loop."
For over a century the citizens of Ormond Beach and the surrounding communities and
visitors to the area alike have learned to love and value the natural vistas and historic
structures they see from the roadways that make up the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail.
Those within the community are deeply concerned with preserving and protecting the
remaining unspoiled areas of forests, swamps, scrub dunes, and coastal marshes with its abundance of ecological systems and historic value in this area. The Ormond Scenic
Loop and Trail hopes to contribute to this worthy endeavor through its efforts to
establish the corridor as a Florida Scenic Highway.
