Ormond Beach and Halifax Banks
The Owsley Tidepool
Old Florida
Ormond Beach and Halifax Banks
Milancie (me) with Mary (my Nurse) on Beach
Coquina Hotel Back right
In the Fall of 1565, a band of French Huguenots wrecked near Cape Canaveral during a
severe northeastern. They came ashore. Following the beach north, they encountered a
Tomoka Indian who led them to the Village of Toronita (meaning Land of Sunshine and Good
Will) and now the site of North Ormond. There they were welcomed by the Chief
Ostinola and his beautiful niece, Princess Issena.
The French leader D'Erlach's younger brother, Ernest, was captivated by Issena and when he returned to France six months later she went with him as his bride. One of the most famous historical hotels of the area was named in her honor, Princess Issena Hotel.
Then in late 1500s and 1600s beneath stately oaks, draped with spanish moss, the Timucuan Indians established their viillage of Nocoroco at what is now the site of Tomoka State Park surrounded by a ocean fed fish-filled salt lagoon and protected from hurricanes by the sandy barrier island to the east. The site of this settlement was documented in the papers of the Spanish explorer Alvaro Mexia in 1605.
Later in 1764 the area became part of the land-grant holdings of Richard Oswald, a wealthy Scots merchant and statesman. who cleared much of the land for planting indigo, rice and sugar cane cutting canals through the marshes, and establishing four plantations along the Halifax.
Much later in the early 1800s several other plantations were established by the English all along the west banks of the Halifax River. Among these were the Damietta Plantation, home of Captain James Ormond (a retired Scottish mariner who grew cotton and indigo) and Bulowville Plantation, home of Major Charles W. Bulow. Ormond and Bulow owned adjoining properties at the head of the Halifax. The local hammock land of area was found to offer perfect conditions for growing oranges. The goods from these plantations were transported on boats down the Halifax to Ponce Inlet where they were transferred to waiting ocean-going vessels. During the Second Seminole War the St. Augustine Militia took over Bulow's plantation and held him prisoner. After the plantation was abandoned by the militia the Seminoles torched torched the home and many of the surrounding properties.
Another well remembered early resident was John Anderson, whose home, "Trappers Lodge," was located in the "wilds" of the peninsula whcich was reached by traveling the Savannah Trail. Later he built a plantation on the Halifax River and named it "Santa Lucia".
In 1874 a group of twelve families employees of the Corbin Lock Company settled on the west banks of the Halifax north of Daytona and established a town they named New Britain after their hometown in Connecticut.
At this time mainland Ormond, reached by traveling Old Kings Road from St. Augustine, and the area just to west two miles that also later became part of Ormond was known as Tomoka City. Daniel Wilson became the town's first postmaster in 1875. By 1877 the town had some 34 homes, a blacksmith shop, a general store and a boat shop. In 1879 a building was constructed to house the first school. It also served as a church and a town hall. By the 1880's, steamboat tourists were frequenting the area.
In April of 1880 town residents gathered and agreed to change the towns name from New Britain to Ormond and adopted the banana tree as the town's emblem. Daniel Wilson became the town's mayor. By this time the town also boasted a two-story "Mammoth General Merchandise Store" which offered an assortment of groceries and drygoods, a tailor, a dressmaker, a millery store and a shoemaker. Dr. L.L. Pinkerton, town's physician and druggist owned the Ormond Drug Store located at the corner of Palmetto Street and Granada Avenue. The Union Church was constructed in 1885.
The Florida East Coast Railway came to Ormond in 1886 and with the first passenger train came visitors from the North seeking milder climate. The first Owsleys to visit Ormond were my great aunt Mary Caroline, her husband CC Brown, and her children who were passengers on the first passenger train. They described it as a sleepy little village with gleaming orange groves, trees with hanging moss, and ditches filled with alligators. They had to row or sail across the river to get to the beach. In her memoriors she also noted going shark fishing and admiring the great throngs of wonderful white and blue herons.
Next came then the bridge in 1887 and the Ormond Hotel was opened on January 1, 1888. It was located on the narrow penisula that stretched between the Halifax and the Atlantic. Building of the hotel was financed by New York investor Stephen V. White. Mr White also financed the extension of the railroad from East Palatka to Daytona. The hotel's architect was the fourteen year old George Penfield and its owners were John Anderson, from Maine, and Joseph D. Price, from Kentucky. The Ormond Hotel had seventy-five rooms and became the gathering place of the Astors, Vanderbilts, Fords, famous writers and artists, who often remarked on its home like comfort. The rooms were cooled by large ceiling fans. Built on twelve acres its corridors and verandas would have sprawled 11 miles if placed end to end in a straight line.
In 1890 Henry M. Flagler bought it, expanding its capacity to 600 rooms and five stories and adding an eighteen hole golf course, a swimming pool, a grand ball room, and a casino. Also added were three water powered elevators, a river pier, and a beach pavilion. The railroad bridge was altered so guests could depart their private pullmans at the west entrance. Flager even staged an annual medieval tournament for his guests enjoyment.
Two other well known hotels of this era were The Coquina constructed at the Granada Beach entrance and the Granada on the mainland operated by W.L.Hammond.
Also in 1891 the Women's Club was founded. Started by 13 members it was also known as the Village Improvement Association and one of its first acts was the establishment of a library. In 1892 St. James Epsicopal openned its doors.
These hotels, landmarks of my childhood, as well as the old bridge no longer stand.
In the 1890's the birthplace of speed got its real start with the bicycle races on the beach. Then in 1902, John Anderson and James Hathaway started the automobile races on the beach. The Ormond Garage, which could house house upto 100 cars, was completed in 1903.
About this time Henry Morrison Flager had a railroad bridge constructed just to the south of the Ormond Bridge.
Perhaps one of the best known homes,The Casements Home , of that era was built on the property immediately south of the hotel by the episcopal minister Reverend Harwood Huntington in the early 1900's for his wife, who was the daughter of Mr. Goodhue, who along with George M. Pullman founded the Pullman Train Car Company. Here might be of interest to note that Harry's and Heaton's (my great grandfather) brother John Guy Owsley married Alice Pullman (George's daughter).
In 1911, retired John D. Rockefeller, began spending winters in the Ormond Hotel and in 1918 at the age of seventy-eight he purchased the three-story Casements and where wintered until his death in 1937 at the age of 97. On Sundays after church Rockefeller would pass out dimes and homilies on thrift to the children.
My grandmother's first cousin brought a home on South Beach Street around 1935 and my grandparents followed her in 1940 purchasing a winter home next door on the corner of Live Oak Street and Beach. My grandparents had wintered often in the area and first traveled through in 1912 on their honeymoon on the first passenger train to Key West.
In 1950 Ormond's name was changed to Ormond Beach and on December 29, 1954 my family and the other inhabitants of Volusia County celebrated 100 years. In the years to follow Fred Dana Marsh errected a fountain and memorial depicting the Indian Legend of the Fountain of Youth at Tomoka Park.
(from Borders of Paradise edited by Dana Ste. Claire published in 1995, Florida's Past by Gene Burnett published in 1991, Henry Flager by Sidney Martin 1998, Florida Potrait by Jerrell Shofner published in 1990, Centennial History of Volusia County published in 1955, Roadside History of Florida by Douglas Waitely published in 1997, HALIFAX MAGAZINE , Florida by Jerell Shonfer published in 1990, Hopes Dreams & Promises by Michael Schene published in 1976, The History of the Casements, and The Story of Ormond Beach by Edith Stanton first published in 1953. Edith Stanton was a very close friend of my grandmother, Edna Owsley Hill)
Volusia's History
Through Its Places
Ormond -
How it all got started
Copyright © Milancie Hill Adams 1998
