NEW SMYRNA BEACH HISTORICAL TRAIL (From Interstate 95, drive east on SR 44 (which becomes Lytle Ave.), north on Live Oak St., west on Canal St., and north on Rush St. to park in the municipal lot at the southeast corner of the intersection with Julia St. Walk south on Rush St. to the intersection with Canal St.) 1 Northeast corner of Rush and Canal Sts. (237 Canal St.) 0.0 Former Post Office This was previously the site of the rambling Victorian home of Daniel Perkins Smith, built in 1885. The front door had come from a Jacksonville church. Smith served as Volusia County's tax collector for almost 50 years and was an agent for the Blue Springs, Orange City and Atlantic Railway. The home was torn down in 1966, the year the post office opened here. The post office building later became the local newspaper office. (Walk east on Canal St. to the intersection with Live Oak St.) 2 North side of Canal St., across from Live Oak St. (223 Canal 0.1 St.) Swoope Building In the 1920s, this was known as the Swoope Building. It was later the home of Sun Discount Pharmacy. (Cross to the southeast corner.) 3 Southeast corner of Canal and Live Oak Sts. 0.1 Site of Silvers & Tanner In the early 1900s, the two-story Silvers & Tanner store featured dry goods and notions. (Continue east 50 feet on Canal St.) 4 South side of Canal St., between Live Oak and Faulkner Sts. 0.1 Site of Second School Because of overcrowding, classes were moved from the first school into the two-story Pitzer Building located here in 1885. 1 (Continue east on Canal St. to the intersection with Magnolia St.) 5 Southwest corner of Canal and Magnolia Sts. 0.1 Former Bank of New Smyrna The first bank in New Smyrna Beach opened in 1906 at the corner of Canal St. and Riverside Dr. with W.P. Wilkinson as its president. It moved here in 1917, and ten years later built a $100,000 building on the same site. The Bank of New Smyrna, previously known as the Port Orange State Bank, opened in January of 1936. It was located here during the 1950s. Later, this became the home of the city’s Utilities Commission. (Continue east on Canal St. to the intersection with Sams Ave. and cross to the northwest corner.) 6 North side of Canal St. 0.2 Site of Turnbull Canal Scottish-born entrepreneur Dr. Andrew Turnbull had served as the British consul at Smyrna in Asia Minor, where he married a Greek girl. By 1766, he felt that Florida, with a climate similar to that of the Mediterranean, would be suitable of natives of that area, especially Greek refugees from Turkish tyranny. Turnbull formed a partnership with Sir William Duncan and they received three grants of 20,000 acres each. Turnbull picked out what he thought was good land on what was then called the Hillsborough River bordering on a jungle for many years known as "Turnbull's Hammock". The area was named "New Smyrna" by Turnbull after his wife's home in Asia Minor. He used indentured servants, mostly from the island of Minorca, to raise indigo for the making of dye. The colonists were to work for from five to seven years, at the end of which they would receive their freedom plus land. He had intended to use about 500 black slaves for the heavier tasks, but their ship sank in the Florida Keys. The other seven ships arrived in the summer of 1768 with 1403 colonists, with 148 dying along the way. The first indigo was exported in 1771. The canal dug for Turnbull was covered in 1925. It ran under what is now the north sidewalk, with a bridge just east of today's Chamber of Commerce Building. Turnbull had traveled throughout the Mediterranean and was impressed by the Egyptian practice of irrigation with canals. In addition to the main plantation, Turnbull himself had 2 a private plantation located 4.8 miles to the north, on the south shore of Turnbull Bay. The overseer of the plantations, Mr. Watson, had a home just north of where US 1 now passes over Murray Creek. (Walk north 150 feet on Sams Ave.) 7 West side of Sams Ave., between Canal and Julia Sts. (120 0.2 Sams Ave.) Site of First School The first public school in Volusia County was built here in 1872 for $42. Its first teacher was Delia Stowe of Massachusetts, who taught spelling, history, arithmetic, geography, needlework and farming. Here now is the former post office building, erected in the 1920s. It now houses the Museum of History. (Walk south on Sams Ave. and east on Canal St. to the intersection with Riverside Dr. and look across to the southwest corner.) 8 Southwest corner of Canal St. and Riverside Dr. 0.3 Site of Smith Block In 1895, the town council moved its meetings from Raulerson Hall to the second floor of the Smith Block, located here. In 1906, the building was used for the post office and a bank. This was later the site of the Southern Bell Telephone Company. (Walk north 50 feet on Riverside Dr.) 9 West side of Riverside Dr., between Canal and Julia Sts. 0.3 Site of Church The Turnbull plantation had a Catholic Church located here, built of brick and dedicated to St. Peter. By 1772, it was in use with an altar with a metal crucifix and two statutes, one of St. Peter and one of St. Anthony. (Continue north 175 feet on Riverside Dr.) 10 West side of Riverside Dr., between Canal and Julia Sts. (124 0.3 N. Riverside Dr.) Site of Ocean House 3 In 1885-87, Ora Carpenter built the first portion of the Ocean House, a hotel popular with hunters, fishermen, and wealthy yachtsmen. It was bought by Capt. F.W. Sams, who added a three-story addition. It had its own lighting plant, ice house and water works. The present courthouse annex on this site was built in 1964 by Jensen Construction Co., Inc., based on a design by William A. Faust. (Continue north on Riverside Dr. 140 feet past Julia St.) 11 West side of Riverside Dr., between Julia and Washington Sts. 0.4 Site of Turnbull House Turnbull's plantation failed because of mismanagement and disease, and the Minorcans rebelled. On July 17, 1777, Gov. Patrick Tonyn ordered full freedom for all of the colonists, with permission to settle in St. Augustine. They were led north along King's Road by Francisco Pellicer, who had been the head carpenter of the plantation. The last to leave was Father Pedro Camps, who departed on November 9, 1777. When the colonists left, the only people left were Turnbull and his family, the overseers, and black slaves. In December of 1777, they were raided by about 40 Indians. Turnbull moved to South Carolina in 1781 to once again practice medicine, turning New Smyrna into a ghost town. These ruins, showing the foundation of a building with dimensions of about 40 x 80 feet, may have been Turnbull's two-story stone house. This is also the previous site of an Indian mound and Ais Indian village of Caparaca in the early 1600s. Excavations show that the mound area was first occupied in about 500 A.D. Some also believe that there was a Spanish fort located here in the 1500s. The foundation is heavier than was usually used for a residence and resembles those of other Spanish forts along the coast. When the Spanish regained control of Florida in 1783, they encouraged colonization. One who settled here was Episcopal minister Dr. Ambrose Hull of Wallingford, Connecticut, who obtained 2,600 acres in 1801, including 1,120 acres along the riverfront from Yacht Club Island to the airport. He started a sugar and cotton plantation. Hull built a two-story stone house at approximately this location, perhaps using the old Turnbull foundation. It was destroyed by radical "patriots" during the War of 1812 and the Hulls moved to St. Augustine. In 1830, the land and ruins were acquired by Thomas Stamps of South Carolina, but his plantation was burned during the Seminole War in 1835. In 1854, the property was purchased by John Dwight 4 Sheldon and his wife, Jane Sheldon, who first settled along the river in 1843. In 1859, they completed a two-story 40- room hotel here, one of the largest south of St. Augustine. On July 9 and 11, 1863, it was shelled and badly damaged by the Union steamer "Oleander". It was rebuilt largely of driftwood collected along the beach in 1867 by the Sheldons and contained the post office, port collector's office, newspaper shoe shop and general store of Dolph Sheldon and M.L. Childs. It was torn down in about 1896. (Continue north on Riverside Dr., then walk east on Washington St. (becomes N. Causeway) to the west end of the high bridge.) 12 West end of Causeway bridge 1.5 North Bridge The first bridge to the barrier island opened in 1894. The prior bridge at this location was replaced by one in 1953 by a new one at a cost of $875,000. (Continue east across the bridge to its east end.) 13 East end of Causeway bridge 1.9 Coronado Beach This was the community of Coronado Beach, founded in about 1885 and incorporated in 1925. When New Smyrna annexed it in 1946, it provided the "Beach" in the new name, New Smyrna Beach.