A house that has…read morechanged The Henry Deland house was actually built back in 1886 by Arthur Hamlin on land purchased from Henry Deland, the founding father of the town of Deland. Hamlin was the first lawyer of the area and was also interested in agriculture and was instrumental in developing new varieties of oranges. Quite a renaissance man. His house was used by his family for a while but then went through several different owners. By World War 2 the upper floor was used as apartments and the house had lost a lot of it's Victorian character and flavor. Fortunately the building was donated to the town and became a museum in 1990. Work was to done to restore it's original appearance and furniture and items were donated by generous patrons to fill the house. In fact 95 percent of the furnishings are not original to the house but have been donated. They have been painstakingly selected to reflect the the earliest occupation. The house is absolutely packed with all kinds of cool things to look at, each one complete with a story. Plan on spending some time here, the docent we had was an incredible source of information and had zillions of facts and figures about the people and items in the house and related one fascinating story after another. He obviously loved his work and was extremely good at it. Not a boring history lesson but an interactive walk through time. The Deland House is a cool way to spend some time and learn lots and lots and lots of stuff about the history of Deland, Florida. So many tours of old houses and historical sites are tedious and difficult. This one is bouncing and lively. I may not remember everything that was said, but it was sure was fun listening to.

We stopped here as we drove through town. It is a small historic museum. Tells you lot about the…read morehistory of the city. They have limited parking though.

The family and I decided to take a quick walk around Flagler Beach and saw the Flagler Beach…read moreHistorical Museum was open. I am so glad we did! What a beautiful museum with amazing photos of Flagler beach's history and events. They also fossils and rocks that were discovered in Flagler. The museum is free but rich with information and memories!

This is a huge establishment for the preservation of old Florida, including a beautiful Timucuan…read morevillage replica you can walk through. Not too many people know about this place but it is just west of Ormond Beach and worth the short drive. There is an old schoolhouse, general store, farm, turpentine mill, church, and a blacksmith's shop, among other buildings. The property is huge and the farm animals will keep kids entertained at least for a little while! They also have several special events throughout the year, including a Pow Wow in November. The daily entrance fee is $3 for adults, $2 ages 6 -12, and free for ages 5 and under.

I always love coming here. Today was the Fall Jamboree and its a great place to take the kids and…read moreenjoy the demonstrations, arts, and crafts of old Florida-the pioneer days. We enjoyed home made ice cream, local honey and bake sale goodies. We walked around to see all of the home made arts and crafts as well as a few tents where my niece was able to make a craft of her own. She painted a clay jellyfish! The history and culture is so rich and inspiring. It makes you realize how spoiled we are as a society, today. Being a Native Floridian, Ive always appreciated learning about my roots. I'll always be back, for many years to come!

Sunday we visited the Ponce Inlet Historical Park. It was closed so we could not go inside the…read morebuildings, but we enjoyed reading the signage. Very nice small park. Free parking located on Beach Street near the marina.

While it might not seem like much at first glance, this small museum is packed full of historic…read moreartifacts and information. There are several planes and a boat with an interesting past. This place is definitely worth a visit if you like military history.

The Deland Naval Air Museum is very small but makes up for size with the joy that the staff,…read moreHarold Bradeen, brought to his description of the exhibits, his willingness to spend time with visitors, his knowledge of history including bits of personal history gleaned from other visitors. Mr. Bradeen made the museum a joy.

Museum was good. Walking tour was very little walking. Just stood for 45 minutes to hear about a…read morefoundation that no one really knows what it was

A wonderful tour of history about one of my favorite places - New Smyrna Beach! We used to go to…read moreShannon by the Sea for two weeks in August in the late 1950's- a mom and pop owned motel where we had just what we needed to relax (parents were teachers!). New Smyrna is a great place with a lot of history and wonderful little shops as well as things like Ross and Bealls. The Museum is a great place to check out the history of this beloved place and you can take as little or as much time as you need to walk around the exhibits!

The beautiful wife and I had made plans to go down to Daytona Beach months ago, but through some…read morerandom act of wonderfulness, we discovered that the 2nd Annual Halifax Oyster Festival would be happening while we were there. Bingo! Let's get the "feel good" stuff out of the way -- the festival is the product of the Oyster Reef Restoration Society, with the funds going toward the restoration of oyster beds in the Halifax River. Great cause. Now, let's focus on why everybody showed up -- the oysters. The Festival featured both Apalachicola and Oak Hill oysters, $3 for a half dozen, $5 for a dozen, $20 for a bucket (shuck it yourself, they give you a knife and everything). They also offer them raw or steamed. A majority of the population seemed to want steamed, which caused huge backlogs (I heard about people waiting an hour for a dozen). Because you have these slips that show what you order, when the people ask the crowd "who has raw" you end up waving it around and scream "I need two!" like you were trying to put Valentine and Winthorpe out of business. So, in short, buck up and eat 'em raw. So what goes great with oysters? Beer. And yes, there was beer, including $5 commemorative (plastic) 22 oz. mugs that were $5 with $3 refills. Now admittedly, your options were Bud, Bud Light, Landshark, and Woodchuck, but at other festivals, it would have been $8 with $5 refills or something stupid. The official hours were 10am-6pm. We got there at around 11 and it was already pretty crowded, but things moved along pretty quickly. We took off for a bit, then returned around 3:00-3:30 and it was insane. The lines were pretty long and moving really slow (due to the majority wanting steamed). Per comments I saw on Facebook, they apparently ran out of oysters around 4:00 (they went through 20,000!). It's hard to be bitter about the logistics -- it's all volunteers, it's cheap, and it's for a great cause. That said, I hope they iron out some of the problems for next year. Regardless, it will be really tempting to come back.

This was my second annual trip to the Oysterfest and it just seems that it's getting better every…read moreyear. If you are a fan of oysters you will find them here in great abundance in Raw, Roasted, Steamed or Oyster Rockefeller versions. If you are not an oyster aficionado, there are plenty of other food options provided by several local restaurants and vendors scattered throughout the landscape of Manatee Island Park in Daytona. Incidentally, your $6 admission fee comes with a $5 discount card which is good at any of the off-island sponsor restaurants listed on the back of the card. Starting at 11:00 AM you will be treated to continuous music from several live bands all day until the event closes late in the afternoon and there is no shortage of affordable beer (22 0z. mugs for $5 with refills for $3) and other beverages offered up by several tap stations scattered throughout the park. This year there were oysters supplied from both Apalachicola and local sources and yes, there is a discernible difference between the two. The Apalachicola oysters are mild and have great flavor but I prefer the local Mosquito Lagoon oysters which are also very good but have a noticeably higher salt content. The festival is put on by the Oyster Reef Restoration Society, with the funds going toward the restoration of oyster beds in the Halifax River. It's an outstanding cause and I applaud their effort towards more local oysters. Parking can be a bit of a hassle unless you arrive early in the day but another option is to take your boat and pull up to the dock on the East side of the Island. Smaller boats can also moor up in the shallows North of the dock. Hope to see Y'all there next year.

Free to enter. Small amount of cars, but ones that you rarely see. Free to enter and I spent about…read morean hour here. The girl at the entrance was very nice and polite. They do have a gift shop, but unfortunately didn't have any shirts my size. Next time I am in the area, I will stop by again.

Small but interesting…read more This is a classic case of trying to fit TOO MUCH into TOO LITTLE space. Displays are awesome, so much Racing heritage and history. While cramped together, they're all clean and organized by era and type of item. Not bad in my opinion, just wish it was more spread out. The caretakers of the museum are very friendly and have a plethora of information to share. It's a free museum, donations are how this place survives, do make use of the donations jar. Definitely worth a look-see if you're race fan.