The small City of DeLand lies 34 miles north of Orlando, in Volusia County.
I do like to visit this town, with several restaurants (one being my favorite breakfast/brunch place, Doug & Lil’s Potato Patch), and its historical main road with gift stores and small businesses. There are murals scattered on the walls of buildings around town, and a small square with permanent chess tables. The Athens theater has been restored (as much as possible) to how it was originally constructed, and there are several museums as well as the famous Stetson University.
At Christmas the private residence of the Stetson Mansion is open to the Public and each year is ordained with different decorations with tours being given around the home.
Around 40 minutes and you’re at the beach traveling east, and there are several State Parks and freshwater springs close by, as well as an Island (Hontoon) you can access by ferry.
DeLand was placed on the map by (wait for it) Mr. Henry DeLand. He visited family in Volusia County travelling from New York in 1876 and fell in love with the pine trees and orange groves. Henry bought 150 acres called Persimmon Hollow, after the fruit trees that grew there.
Mr. DeLand returned home to tend to his baking soda manufacturing company and later that same year came back to Florida. He met with several settlers scattered around the area and his vision of creating a cultural center including education, religion and enterprise was born. A meeting was then called, and the land was divided and streets named.
To attract people to his new community he came up with a deal that anyone who bought land from him wasn’t happy within 2 years, their money would be refunded. Shortly after this he sold his northern home to fully commit to his vision of creating DeLand all that he had envisioned. He donated money and land to build churches and in 1883 together with his friend John B Stetson, The DeLand Academy was formed. John B Stetson (the famous hat manufacturer), had previously invested both financially and personally to the DeLand Academy & so in 1889 it was agreed that the name be changed to Stetson University. Mr. Stetson bought with him the first electric plant and ice plant in the whole State!
As DeLand formed and flourished into what had been envisioned, the town soon became known as “The Athens of Florida” (after the ancient worlds most innovative pioneering Cities).
Unfortunately, in December 1894 and directly again in February 1895, devastating freezes destroyed the citrus industry in Northern Florida. To put it in perspective, yearly production of produce prior to this was 6 million boxes of fruit, compared to 100,000 afterwards.
Mr. DeLand was a good man and was devastated by the loss suffered and he began to buy back the land from the unhappy farmers. This caused him to nearly loose his entire fortune and he had to return to New York to take up his baking soda business once again to cover the costs. In 1908, he had bought back every piece of land that he had sold to settlers that wanted to leave.
DeLand is now home to over 30,000 residents and is recognized with all the local attractions to be an exciting destination.
Sky diving is a newer sport that has found its Floridian home in DeLand and you can find out about it here. Tandem jumps start from $155 but I can’t (& am unlikely to) comment on the experience!
We hope you enjoy DeLand as much as we do😊