Another beautiful sunrise!
During the steamboat era all the towns on the Indian and Halifax Rivers were ports for the steamboat lines to load the oranges, vegetables and seafood from the local area. Of these, the town of New Smyrna is the oldest, established in 1887. The town has many bungalow style homes of the 1910 era along the riverfront.
We traveled past Ponce de Leon Inlet and enjoyed seeing the first lighthouse of our trip. Standing 160 feet tall, the Ponce Lighthouse is the tallest in Florida. The lighthouse began operation in 1887.
Continuing north, we traveled into the Halifax River that flows through Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach, known for being the “birthplace of speed”. The car companies- Olds, Ford, Chevrolet, Stanley, and Packard all tested their stock race cars on the only reliable flat track of that time. That track was the hard packed sand naturally made by the receding tides on Daytona and Ormond Beaches.
In 1903 the top speed recorded was 68mph, in 1932 the top speed was 253mph. You can still drive your car on the beaches today!
FYI. The current speedway in Daytona was originally built in 1959.
On the Intracoastal we passed the restored winter home and gardens of John D Rockefellow- called The Casement, due to its casement windows. Rockefellow was an avid race car fan, I’m sure he was on the beaches watching the races.
North of Ormond Beach the Tomoka River joins the Halifax River. Tomoka State Park surrounds the river junctions and gives you a taste of natural Florida. There is also the remains of Timucuan village with its shell mounds in the park. Native Americans probably lived in this area since 4000 BC. The Spanish documented the village’s existence in 1605.
FYI. Tomoka State Park has a great campground and great kayaking
Also passed by the ruins of Bulow Sugar Cane Plantation Historic State Park near Flagler Beach. The ruins, dated to the late 1800s, of the mill, manor house and worker’s village remain. We could only see part of the plantation ruins through our binoculars.
The next town was Palm Coast, a new town between Flagler Beach and St Augustine. The developers did a nice job of maintaining much of the natural vegetation. Also had lots of parks along the Halifax River.
We cruised past Mantanzas Inlet, one of the few unmodified inlets in Florida. A fixed bridge spans the beach tidal area and pass today.
Settled in to an anchorage at Fort Mantanzas- sister fort to St Augustine’s Castillo de San Marco. Originally, the forts were small Spanish outposts built to guard the northern and southern entrance to St Augustine. When the French Huguenots based at Fort Caroline, tried to attack St Augustine, their fleet was destroyed in a hurricane. The Spanish retaliated by attacking and conquering Fort Caroline in Jacksonville, then returned to roundup any Huguenot survivors. When the survivors would not convert to Catholicism, they were killed. Thus the Mantanzas River has been known as the river of blood.
The current coquina forts Castillo de San Marco in St Augustine and Fort Mantanzas further south in the Mantanzas River Inlet replaced the outposts and successfully defended St Augustine from multiple British naval attacks.
These forts became part of the United States in 1821.
