Ormond-By-The-Sea, Florida
Encyclopedia
Ormond-By-The-Sea is a census-designated place
and an unincorporated town in Volusia County
, Florida
, United States
. The population was 8,430 during the 2000 census.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the CDP has a total area of 5.2 km² (2.0 mi²). 5.2 km² (2.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.50% is water.
The boundaries of Ormond-By-The-Sea include the Volusia/Flagler county line on the north, the city of Ormond Beach on the south, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the Halifax River
on the west. The area has traditionally been called the North Peninsula, although other nicknames such as OBC or OBTS are sometimes used.
There are two principal roads, Highway AIA (also known as Ocean Shore Boulevard), which runs along the Atlantic Ocean, and John Anderson Drive, which runs along the Halifax River.
of 2000, there were 8,430 people, 4,296 households, and 2,495 families residing in the CDP. The population density
was 1,635.6/km² (4,245.5/mi²). There were 5,689 housing units at an average density of 1,103.8/km² (2,865.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.53% White, 0.33% African American, 0.39% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.28% from other races
, and 0.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.30% of the population.
There were 4,296 households out of which 13.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were married couples
living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.9% were non-traditional families as a large number of Gay and Lesbian couples live in OBC. 35.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.96 and the average family size was 2.46.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 12.9% under the age of 18, 3.8% from 18 to 24, 20.2% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 35.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 54 years. For every 100 females there were 87.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $34,970, and the median income for a family was $38,731. Males had a median income of $27,536 versus $25,357 for females. The per capita income
for the CDP was $22,503. About 7.3% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.2% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.
, who in the sixteenth century occupied a large village called Nocoroco, located at the site of Tomoka State Park. The Timucuan diet relied heavily on oysters and other shellfish, and their shell middens, or trash heaps, may still be found near the Halifax River in Ormond-By-The-Sea.
Among the first Anglo settlers of the area was Chauncey A. Bacon, an architect and Civil War veteran from New Britain, Connecticut, who in 1876 purchased 172 acre (0.69605992 km²) in present day Ormond-By-The-Sea and named it the Number Nine Plantation. In her book Ormond-On-The-Halifax, Alice Strickland describes the site: "The land was covered with a dense, tangled forest of palmettos, scrub oaks, and pine trees which Bacon cleared out with axe and grub hoe. The Bacon's first home was a palmetto cabin, but later Bacon built a small, two story house with a large coquina rock fireplace on top of the Indian shell mound."
The Bacons later constructed a larger home, which still stands on John Anderson Drive, from salvaged mahogany logs that washed ashore from the City of Vera Cruz shipwreck. The property was also planted with a large fruit grove featuring oranges, grapefruit, lemons, loquats and guavas, among others. By the turn of the century, the Bacons had a thriving home business selling brandied figs and their best-selling "Number 9 Guava Jelly."
In 1909, the Bacons sold Number Nine Plantation to M.C. Hillery who operated it for a few years and then sold it in 1911 to a company that had been organized by Ferdinand Nordman, Jr. Nordman constructed a "jelly house" and enlarged the fruit business, selling fruit preserves via mail order to customers across the country, including New York Governor, Nelson Rockefeller. The business survived until 1968, and the jelly house was demolished to make way for a subdivision in 1984.
Another early settler was Leonard B. Knox, who developed a citrus plantation known as Mound Grove, located along High Bridge Road near its crossing with Bulow Creek
. It was Knox's son Donald who planted the Canary Island date palms which currently line the road. Part of the property also included a waterside building that operated as Uncle Guy's Fish Camp between the 1930s and 1950s. The property was subsequently acquired by Dick Cobb, who operated a bar and restaurant out of the building, which became known as "Cobb's Corner." The business closed in the 1970s, although portions of the structure remain.
Despite these early settlements, nearly all of present-day Ormond-By-The-Sea remained undeveloped until the 1950s, when the area began to develop in earnest as a retirement community. The "by the sea" appellation was used to distinguish the area from the adjacent city of Ormond Beach, located immediately to the south. Though unincorporated, it was first represented by the North Peninsula Zoning Commission, created in 1955.
For many years, one of Ormond-By-The-Sea's most distinguishing landmarks was the Ormond Pier, a 750 feet (228.6 m) steel structure constructed in 1959 near the intersection of Laurie Drive and AIA.A large section of the Ormond Pier was torn away by a storm in November 1984, and the remaining portions subsequently demolished for safety reasons in the early 1990s.
Approximately one mile north on AIA, near the intersection of AIA and Spanish Waters Drive, stands a watch tower constructed in 1942 by the Coast Guard Reserve to look out for German U-boats operating off the coast.The tower was restored in 2004 and is one of the last remaining examples of a World War II era observation tower on the Florida coast.
At the northern end of Ormond-By-The-Sea is the North Peninsula State Park
, comprising approximately 800 acres (3.2 km²) of undeveloped coastal dunes and marsh lands, which were acquired in the mid-1980s through the Conservation & Recreation Lands Program, later known as the "Preservation 2000" and "Florida Forever" programs. Among other species, the park provides crucial habitat for the Florida Scrub Jay
, a threatened federal species of which less than 4,000 breeding pairs are thought to survive.
shells. Here may be found sand fleas
and ghost crabs
, as well as a variety of coastal birds including plovers, stilts, avocets, terns, and gulls. Just above the tide line, several species of sea turtles are known to lay their eggs, including the leatherback, Atlantic loggerhead
, and green turtle.
Immediately inland is the Temperate Beach Dune, a "pioneer zone" of vegetation growing along the primary dunes. Species of note include sea oats, beach morning glory
, and beach sunflower.
Slightly inland from the primary dunes is the Coastal Strand, a shrubby area dominated by saw palmetto, spanish bayonet, prickly pear cactus
, and greenbrier vines
. The Coastal Strand frequently overlaps with nearby sand ridges featuring Florida Scrub
plant communities, including scrub live oaks, slash pine, and Florida's state tree, the sabal palm
(often called a "cabbage palm"). Species of note include the Florida Scrub Jay and the endangered gopher tortoise
.
Close to the Halifax River, the soil is more moist and supports Maritime Hammock species, including live oaks
, magnolias, American holly, red cedars and coontie ferns. In many areas, Brazilian pepper trees, an invasive exotic species, may also be seen growing.
The river's edge features many plants associated with tidal marshes, including salt marsh cordgrass, needle rush and mangroves. Oysters and blue crabs are common in the shallow waters, as are a variety of wading birds including egrets and herons.
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
and an unincorporated town in Volusia County
Volusia County, Florida
Volusia County is a county located in the state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 official county's population was 494,593 . Its county seat is DeLand, and its most populous city is currently Deltona....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 8,430 during the 2000 census.
Geography
Ormond-By-The-Sea is located at 29°20′21"N 81°3′57"W (29.339206, -81.065756).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the CDP has a total area of 5.2 km² (2.0 mi²). 5.2 km² (2.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.50% is water.
The boundaries of Ormond-By-The-Sea include the Volusia/Flagler county line on the north, the city of Ormond Beach on the south, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the Halifax River
Halifax River
The Halifax River is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, located in northeast Volusia County, Florida. The waterway was originally known as the North Mosquito River, but was renamed after George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, during the British occupation of Florida .-Geography:The...
on the west. The area has traditionally been called the North Peninsula, although other nicknames such as OBC or OBTS are sometimes used.
There are two principal roads, Highway AIA (also known as Ocean Shore Boulevard), which runs along the Atlantic Ocean, and John Anderson Drive, which runs along the Halifax River.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 8,430 people, 4,296 households, and 2,495 families residing in the CDP. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,635.6/km² (4,245.5/mi²). There were 5,689 housing units at an average density of 1,103.8/km² (2,865.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.53% White, 0.33% African American, 0.39% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.28% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.30% of the population.
There were 4,296 households out of which 13.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.9% were non-traditional families as a large number of Gay and Lesbian couples live in OBC. 35.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.96 and the average family size was 2.46.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 12.9% under the age of 18, 3.8% from 18 to 24, 20.2% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 35.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 54 years. For every 100 females there were 87.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $34,970, and the median income for a family was $38,731. Males had a median income of $27,536 versus $25,357 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the CDP was $22,503. About 7.3% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.2% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.
History & Local Landmarks
The earliest known inhabitants of the Ormond-By-The-Sea area were the Timucuan IndiansTimucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...
, who in the sixteenth century occupied a large village called Nocoroco, located at the site of Tomoka State Park. The Timucuan diet relied heavily on oysters and other shellfish, and their shell middens, or trash heaps, may still be found near the Halifax River in Ormond-By-The-Sea.
Among the first Anglo settlers of the area was Chauncey A. Bacon, an architect and Civil War veteran from New Britain, Connecticut, who in 1876 purchased 172 acre (0.69605992 km²) in present day Ormond-By-The-Sea and named it the Number Nine Plantation. In her book Ormond-On-The-Halifax, Alice Strickland describes the site: "The land was covered with a dense, tangled forest of palmettos, scrub oaks, and pine trees which Bacon cleared out with axe and grub hoe. The Bacon's first home was a palmetto cabin, but later Bacon built a small, two story house with a large coquina rock fireplace on top of the Indian shell mound."
The Bacons later constructed a larger home, which still stands on John Anderson Drive, from salvaged mahogany logs that washed ashore from the City of Vera Cruz shipwreck. The property was also planted with a large fruit grove featuring oranges, grapefruit, lemons, loquats and guavas, among others. By the turn of the century, the Bacons had a thriving home business selling brandied figs and their best-selling "Number 9 Guava Jelly."
In 1909, the Bacons sold Number Nine Plantation to M.C. Hillery who operated it for a few years and then sold it in 1911 to a company that had been organized by Ferdinand Nordman, Jr. Nordman constructed a "jelly house" and enlarged the fruit business, selling fruit preserves via mail order to customers across the country, including New York Governor, Nelson Rockefeller. The business survived until 1968, and the jelly house was demolished to make way for a subdivision in 1984.
Another early settler was Leonard B. Knox, who developed a citrus plantation known as Mound Grove, located along High Bridge Road near its crossing with Bulow Creek
Bulow Creek State Park
Bulow Creek State Park is a Florida State Park located five miles north of Ormond Beach. It is on Old Dixie Highway , next to the Atlantic Ocean...
. It was Knox's son Donald who planted the Canary Island date palms which currently line the road. Part of the property also included a waterside building that operated as Uncle Guy's Fish Camp between the 1930s and 1950s. The property was subsequently acquired by Dick Cobb, who operated a bar and restaurant out of the building, which became known as "Cobb's Corner." The business closed in the 1970s, although portions of the structure remain.
Despite these early settlements, nearly all of present-day Ormond-By-The-Sea remained undeveloped until the 1950s, when the area began to develop in earnest as a retirement community. The "by the sea" appellation was used to distinguish the area from the adjacent city of Ormond Beach, located immediately to the south. Though unincorporated, it was first represented by the North Peninsula Zoning Commission, created in 1955.
For many years, one of Ormond-By-The-Sea's most distinguishing landmarks was the Ormond Pier, a 750 feet (228.6 m) steel structure constructed in 1959 near the intersection of Laurie Drive and AIA.A large section of the Ormond Pier was torn away by a storm in November 1984, and the remaining portions subsequently demolished for safety reasons in the early 1990s.
Approximately one mile north on AIA, near the intersection of AIA and Spanish Waters Drive, stands a watch tower constructed in 1942 by the Coast Guard Reserve to look out for German U-boats operating off the coast.The tower was restored in 2004 and is one of the last remaining examples of a World War II era observation tower on the Florida coast.
At the northern end of Ormond-By-The-Sea is the North Peninsula State Park
North Peninsula State Park
North Peninsula State Park is a Florida State Park, located north of Ormond-By-The-Sea and east of the Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park, off A1A.-References and external links:* at...
, comprising approximately 800 acres (3.2 km²) of undeveloped coastal dunes and marsh lands, which were acquired in the mid-1980s through the Conservation & Recreation Lands Program, later known as the "Preservation 2000" and "Florida Forever" programs. Among other species, the park provides crucial habitat for the Florida Scrub Jay
Florida Scrub Jay
The Florida Scrub-Jay is one of the species of scrub-jay native to North America. It is the only species of bird endemic to the U.S. state of Florida. Because of this, it is heavily sought by birders who travel from across the country to observe this unique species...
, a threatened federal species of which less than 4,000 breeding pairs are thought to survive.
Ecology
Though most of Ormond-By-The-Sea is little more than a half-mile wide, it supports no fewer than six distinct ecological zones. The beach, or tidal zone, features distinctive reddish-colored sand created by crushed coquinaCoquina
Coquina is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically sorted fragments of the shells of either molluscs, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. For a sediment to be considered to be a coquina, the average size of the...
shells. Here may be found sand fleas
Emerita (genus)
Emerita is a small genus of decapod crustaceans, known as mole crabs. These are small animals that burrow in the sand in the wash zone and use their antennae for filter feeding.-Description:...
and ghost crabs
Ghost crab
Ghost crabs, also called sand crabs, are crabs of the genus Ocypode, common shore crabs in many countries. Characteristics of the genus include one claw being larger than the other, but this difference is not as marked as in male fiddler crabs....
, as well as a variety of coastal birds including plovers, stilts, avocets, terns, and gulls. Just above the tide line, several species of sea turtles are known to lay their eggs, including the leatherback, Atlantic loggerhead
Loggerhead sea turtle
The loggerhead sea turtle , or loggerhead, is an oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around long when fully grown, although larger specimens of up to have been discovered...
, and green turtle.
Immediately inland is the Temperate Beach Dune, a "pioneer zone" of vegetation growing along the primary dunes. Species of note include sea oats, beach morning glory
Ipomoea pes-caprae
Ipomoea pes-caprae, also known as Beach Morning Glory or Goat's Foot, is a common pantropical creeping vine belonging to the family Convolvulaceae. It grows on the upper parts of beaches and endures salted air. It is one of the most common and most widely distributed salt tolerant plants and...
, and beach sunflower.
Slightly inland from the primary dunes is the Coastal Strand, a shrubby area dominated by saw palmetto, spanish bayonet, prickly pear cactus
Opuntia
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...
, and greenbrier vines
Smilax
Smilax is a genus of about 300-350 species, found in temperate zones, tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found , while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico...
. The Coastal Strand frequently overlaps with nearby sand ridges featuring Florida Scrub
Florida scrub
Florida scrub is an endangered temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the state of Florida in the United States. It is found on coastal and inland sand ridges and is characterized by a xeromorphic plant community dominated by shrubs and dwarf oaks. Scrub soils, a type of entisol, are derived...
plant communities, including scrub live oaks, slash pine, and Florida's state tree, the sabal palm
Sabal palmetto
Sabal palmetto, also known as cabbage palm, palmetto, cabbage palmetto, palmetto palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, swamp cabbage and sabal palm, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm . It is native to the southeastern United States, Cuba, and the Bahamas...
(often called a "cabbage palm"). Species of note include the Florida Scrub Jay and the endangered gopher tortoise
Gopherus
Gopherus is a genus of tortoises commonly referred to as gopher tortoises. The gopher tortoise is grouped with land tortoises that originated 60 million years ago, in North America...
.
Close to the Halifax River, the soil is more moist and supports Maritime Hammock species, including live oaks
Live oak
Live oak , also known as the southern live oak, is a normally evergreen oak tree native to the southeastern United States...
, magnolias, American holly, red cedars and coontie ferns. In many areas, Brazilian pepper trees, an invasive exotic species, may also be seen growing.
The river's edge features many plants associated with tidal marshes, including salt marsh cordgrass, needle rush and mangroves. Oysters and blue crabs are common in the shallow waters, as are a variety of wading birds including egrets and herons.