"new smyrna beach" Top 5 Page for this destination New Smyrna Beach by doug48

new smyrna beach was originally inhabited by timucuan indians about 10,000 years ago. the spainard ponce de leon visited the area in the 1600's. the town of new smyrna was founded as a colony by the scotsman dr. andrew turnbull in 1768. new smyrna was named after turnbull's wife who was from smyrna turkey. new smyrna beach is the oldest town in volusia county. turnbull brought about 1,200 colonists from turkey, greece, and italy to grow hemp, sugar cane, indigo, and to produce rum. because of tropical diseases and seminole indian attacks the settlement was abandoned. in 1830 william kembile established a sugar cane plantation and mill in new smyrna. the city of new smyrna beach was incorporated in 1947. in the 1950's and 1960's new smyrna beach was a fishing village and the beach was sparcely populated. in the 1970's condo developers came to new smyrna and lined the beach with the high rise buildings that you see today.

old sugar mill ruins

in my opinion new smyrna is one of the nicest atlantic beaches in central florida. you can drive on the beach which is rare in florida. cape canaveral national seashore offers an unspoiled beach not effected by condo development. the mosquito lagoon offers excellent redfish and seatrout fishing. ponce inlet and the atlantic ocean offers excellent surf fishing. a great place to visit when in central florida.