New Britain Dispatch - Volume 1 - Number 1 (Fall 2022)

New Britain Dispatch

A Journal of the

Ormond Beach Historical Society Ormond Beach, Florida

Ormond Beach Historical Society

38 E. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach, FL 32176

Phone: (386) 677-7005

Email: office@ormondhistory.org Website: http://www.OrmondHistory.org

Office Hours: 10 am to 3 pm (Tuesday – Saturday)

Greetings! Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Ormond Beach Historical Society’s New Britain Dispatch. Our goal with this journal is to provide you with interesting stories about our history, focusing on Ormond Beach and its vicinity, and relevant stories from other parts of Florida.

In 1874, Daniel Wilson and George Millard traveled to this area from New Britain, Connecticut to start a settlement on the west side of the Halifax River. Others from Connecticut soon followed and they built palmetto shanties near present-day Tomoka Avenue and Beach Street, cleared land, and planted crops including oranges. In the winter of 1874, Daniel Wilson built the settlement’s first wood framed house which became known as Colony House. The settlement was named New Britain in honor of their hometown in Connecticut. In 1880, as more post-Civil War settlers arrived in the area from different parts of the country the town’s name was changed to Ormond. On April 25, 1950, a referendum renamed the city to Ormond Beach.

Thus, we have named this journal the New Britain Dispatch to link the present to Ormond Beach’s past. We hope you enjoy this new endeavor, and we welcome your input.

New Britain settlers

in front of Colony House (which was

on the southwest corner of presentday Tomoka Road and Beach Street, Ormond Beach) - photograph dated January 29, 1878 Source: Ormond Beach Historical Society.

gathered

located

Invitation and Instructions for Article Submissions

The Ormond Beach Historical Society’s History Journal Committee welcomes article submissions for our history journal, New Britain Dispatch. You do not need to be an experienced writer or professional historian to submit an article. Preferably, articles should be connected to the history of the Ormond Beach area; however, articles of historic importance regarding the state of Florida are also acceptable. Submissions can be researched articles, recollections, oral histories or short stories. Submissions should be prepared in Microsoft Word (Times New Roman 12-point font, double spaced with a maximum word count of 2,500). Articles longer than 2,500 words can be broken into different parts and published in multiple editions. For researched articles please use endnotes (not footnotes), and include a list of sources. Chicago style endnotes and bibliography are preferred.

Please include a brief biography of yourself.

Submit articles via email with any illustrations and photographs (high resolution, if possible) to the Ormond Beach Historical Society’s office at office@ormondhistory.org (Please include Editor, New Britain Dispatch in the subject line.)

You can also save your article, illustrations, and photographs on a USB flash drive, CD or DVD and mail it to:

Ormond Beach Historical Society Attn: Editor, New Britain Dispatch 38 E. Granada Blvd. Ormond Beach, FL 32176

Articles can be submitted anytime. The deadline for the Spring edition is April 15 (published the first week of June). The deadline for the Fall edition is October 15 (published the first week of December).

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The Ormond Beach Historical Society - New Britain Dispatch - needs your article submissions to add to the knowledge base and help keep local and state history alive and remarkable

New Britain Dispatch – OBHS History Journal Committee

Randy Jaye (Committee Chair)

Erlene Turner (proofreader)

Pattie Gertenbach (Editor) Carolyn West (proofreader)

Table of Contents

The Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex: A National Treasure

5 by Randy Jaye

Florida Memories..................................................................................................11 by Juanita Price

You Too Can Do Good by Getting Involved with Local History

15 by Randy Jaye & David Churchman

Rockefeller and The Casements

17 by Alice Strickland

Samples of OBHS’s Historic Photographic & Postcard Collections

Disclaimer

The information provided in all of the articles within this publication are the sole responsibility of their authors. This information does not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Ormond Beach Historical Society or its members.

The Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex: A National Treasure

by Randy Jaye

On November 27, 2020, the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex became the Ormond Beach area’s most recent addition to the National Register of Historic Places as a site that has yielded information important in prehistory.

The Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex is an indigenous mortuary and habitation site located on a peninsula between the Halifax and Tomoka Rivers in the Tomoka State Park area.

The site represents indigenous human occupation and activity that lasted from at least 5,100 years before the present (BP) and continued after European contact in 1513 up until the mid-1700s.

The earliest artifacts found so far were made by people who were most likely the ancestors of the Timucuans.1 It is not known what these people called themselves as they left no written records, so archaeologists have grouped them into cultural names representing different periods of time, such as: including: Mount Taylor, Orange, St. Johns I and St. Johns II.

Dr. Jon C. Endonino explains, “The majority of the artifacts from Tomoka were made during the Thornhill Lake phase2 of the Mount Taylor [period]3 and at the site are dated from about 5100-4200 BP. We have only small amounts of pottery or other artifacts from the St. Johns I period which at the site is dated 3400-1800 BP. There’s also a trace amount of St. Johns II and most of that is associated with the Contact/Colonial occupation of Nocoroco4 at the north end of the peninsula and is dated about 430-300 BP. Now those folks, during the period 430-300 BP were Timucuan, that is certain.”

The site was used by indigenous people for multiple purposes including a cemetery, religious ceremonies and a domestic village. It consists of 12 sand and shell mounds, five shell ridges/knolls, and extensive subsurface midden and borrow pits. Some of the important cultural materials that have been discovered at the site include worked shell tools and artifacts, the remains of both vertebrate and invertebrate fauna, stone tools and ceramics.

Six of the mounds were used as mortuaries while the others served domestic purposes. Based on radiocarbon testing four of the mortuary mounds date to the Thornhill Lake phase, and one was reused to bury people during the St. Johns period (3,600-456 BP).5 The sixth mortuary mound is later than the others and was constructed during the St. Johns period.

The land on which the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex is located was once part of the 20,000acre Mount Oswald Plantation, which was purchased in 1766 by Richard Oswald (the British peace commissioner who negotiated the Peace of Paris in 1782, which led to the set of treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War). The plantation was abandoned around 1784 after the British returned Florida to the Spanish.

The site is currently owned and managed by the state of Florida and the Department of Environmental Protection, which shields and protects it from modern development.

Archaeological Significance

The Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex is one of the oldest known mortuary mound complexes in the state of Florida and in the United States. It is also the largest known preceramic6 Archaic Period7 site in coastal northeast Florida.

The site was excavated several times in the past including the first written account by A.E. Davis (1881-1885), the state of Florida’s survey by John W. Griffin and Hale G. Smith (1946), the first detailed inventory of the mounds by Daniel and Haviser (1979), the Florida Recreation and Park’s series of surveys and excavations by Bruce Piatek (early 1990s) and the long term Tomoka Archaeology Project which began in 2013.

The main features of the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex remain mostly intact and undisturbed despite previous looting, minor erosion, minor landscape modifications during the Plantation Period and previous archaeological excavations.

Excavations and research at the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex have led to a better understanding of preceramic Middle and Late Archaic periods and the Mount Taylor and Orange8 period cultures at the site specific and regional levels.

Future excavations and research are likely to yield additional data related to ancient environments, subsistence, interaction and trade, craft production, settlement patterns, seasonality and community organization throughout the thousands of years that Native Floridians occupied the site.

The Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex is truly a unique national treasure.

Tomoka River at Tomoka State Park. Photo by Randy Jaye.

Tomoka Mound Number 5 - Photo Courtesy of Jon C. Endonino, Ph.D.

Tomoka Mound Number 6 - Photo Courtesy of Jon C. Endonino, Ph.D.

Anterior bone (dentary) and other bone fragments worked into tools and ornamental objects by indigenous people found at the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex – Photos and Chart Courtesy of graphic designer Jen Brown.

Stone objects worked into tools by indigenous people found at the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex

Photos and Chart Courtesy of graphic designer Jen Brown.

Acknowledgements

Much of the information in this article is based on recent excavations and research work conducted at the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex led by Jon C. Endonino, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology, Eastern Kentucky University. The work was a joint project between Eastern Kentucky University and the Gulf Archaeology Research Institute in cooperation with the Florida Park Service and with contributions from colleagues at the Florida Public Archaeology Network, Flagler College, Florida Atlantic University, University of South Florida and the National Park Service.

Notes

1 The Timucua were indigenous people who lived in present-day Georgia and north central Florida. At the time of European contact in 1513 it is estimated they numbered about 200,000 and were organized into 35 chiefdoms over an area covering 19,200 square miles. By 1800, these people were eradicated due mainly to Eurasian-introduced infectious diseases, the slave trade and warfare against European colonists and their native allies.

2 Dr. Jon C. Endonino explains the Thornhill Lake phase as “…the latter portion of the Mount Taylor Period from 5,600 to 4,700 BP [years before the present] and is characterized by the construction and use of sand burial mounds, and increase in exchange with neighboring regions of the southeast, and the occurrence of “exotic” ground and polished stone artifacts like banner stones (from Savannah River Valley in GA and SC, and stone beads from Mississippi obtained through interregional exchange).”

3 The Mount Taylor period culture was a pre-ceramic hunter-gatherer archaeological culture based in the northeastern Florida area during the middle to late Archaic period. Most of their known sites are located in the St. Johns River valley.

4 Nocoroco is the site of a Timucuan village located in Tomoka State Park. On May 7, 1973, it was added onto the National Register of Historic Places as a site significant for its information potential in the area of aboriginal history.

5 The St. Johns culture was an archaeological culture located along the St. Johns River and along the Atlantic coast in northeastern Florida. It lasted from about 2,500 BP to shortly after European contact in the 1500s. This culture is mostly identified by its style of pottery, plain chalky was the dominate type, which was made from clay obtained from fresh water sources.

6 The preceramic period refers to the age or culture prior to the advent of pottery making.

7 Archaic Period, in the North American chronology, is subdivided into three periods: Early Archaic (11,500 to 3,200 BP), Middle Archaic (8,900 to 5,800 BP) and the Late Archaic (5,800 to 3,200 BP).

8 The Orange period culture was a Late-Archaic archaeological culture located along the eastern side of the Florida peninsula that lasted from about 4,000 to 2,500 BP. The Orange period culture is mainly identified by Orange-series fibertempered pottery.

Bibliography

Chase, Kelly L. and Dr. Jon C. Endonino. National Register of Historic Places nomination. Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex. FL Division of Historical Resources / Eastern Kentucky University, 2020.

Endonino, Jon C. “Re: Clarification - Article: The Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex: A National Treasure.” Message to Randy Jaye. March 22, 2021. E-mail.

Endonino, Jon C. The Thornhill Lake Archaeological Research Project: 2005-2008. Jonesville, Florida: Southeastern Archaeological Research Inc., https://lsa.anthro.ufl.edu/files/Endonino_Thornhill_FA09.pdf

Milanich, Jerald T. Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. Gainsville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1995. Richard Oswald collection (1779-1783). Clements Library, University of Michigan. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsead/umich-wcl-M-26osw?id=navbarbrowselink;view=text

Editor’s Note

This article was originally published in the Halifax Herald, Volume 39, Number 1, (Summer 2021). (Minor revisions have been made to this version of the article.)

Timucua Indian Village of Nocoroco - Florida Historical Marker - Tomoka State Park.

Photo by Randy Jaye.

Florida Memories

by Juanita Price

Daddy had a musical ear. He taught himself to play the harmonica. He was also a first class backyard mechanic.

I was fascinated by the way he could diagnose an ailing car or truck. He’d start the vehicle, put his ear to the door on the driver’s side, then on the hood, gradually to the passenger side and the trunk. When he arrived back to the driver’s side, he could tell exactly what the vehicle needed. I’ve never seen anybody else do that.

From South Carolina to Florida

My grandfather Mr. L.L. Price migrated from a small farming community on the outside of Columbia called Gilbert. His dream was to own and operate his own citrus grove. He came with a wife and four children. The last three were born in Mims, Florida, where they had decided to settle. Grandpa’s first wife passed away much too young, at the age of thirty-four. She was a typical pioneer woman, worn out from hard work and child bearing.

A year later he found his second wife, (my grandmother) by chance in a general store. She was accompanied by her father. A poor man himself, he was impressed by the newly widowed, rich grove owner Mr. Price. He quickly surmised that it would make a good marriage for his pretty eighteen-yearold daughter Chrissie. The marriage was arranged, as most were in those days. The courtship was short. They married.

My father Carlos L. Price was born in 1916. Another son came along in 1921. The union endured for nine miserable years. It was a poor match. Grandpa was a perfectionist, a taut, wiry energetic man who hated disorder in any form. He was also stingy; although he had plenty of money coming in from his orange groves, Grandma had to beg for every penny and render a strict accounting of all her expenses. The stepchildren caused constant trouble. They had good memories of their deceased mother and deeply resented their father’s young wife.

At last she could stand no more. She took her younger son by the hand and began to walk down the long dusty road to her parents’ house in Titusville, no easy trek. It was nearly a four mile walk.

Grandpa ran behind her, begging and pleading. “Chrissie, Chrissie, I’ll put a thousand dollars in the bank in your name.”

Tempted, she stopped. A moment of silence, then she decided to hold her ground. “No, damn it. I’ve had it.”

It wasn’t easy to get unmarried in those days. A divorce was as rare and as scandalous as a hanging. A divorcee was treated little better than a prostitute. It was a courtroom drama. Grandma had to relate numerous incidents of physical and mental abuse. The divorce was granted.

With her settlement, which was considerable for those times, grandma bought a small white frame house not far from her ex-husband’s home.

The Hurricane

of ’26

Along with his musical and mechanical abilities, daddy was also a wonderful storyteller. Especially did he like to reminiscence about his parents, the orange grove, survival, and the Great Depression. One incident sticks in my mind.

In 1926, when he was ten years old, a devastating hurricane and cyclone hit Brevard County. Daddy recalled the terror he felt, at the flooded streets in front of the house. The wind howled and the blades of grass lay flat on the ground. The deluge coming down roared on the tin roof of their home. Water rose to the level of the running boards of the cars.

He lay in his bed trembling, afraid for his mother and baby brother who slept in the next room. Mims then, was covered with groves. The gale winds blew most of the fruit right off the trees. The estimated damage of the citrus crop alone was between seventy-five and one-hundred thousand dollars. A considerable amount for that time.

Till the day he finally left this world, daddy couldn’t sleep during a heavy rainstorm. He would get out of bed and go sit in his favorite rocker, until the storm abated.

Hard Times

The Depression overtook grandma and her two sons. Even though grandpa was a successful business farmer, he refused to give further help. She was on her own.

A small garden in her backyard was some help. Poverty eventually forced her to get on the wrong side of the law. She decided to do business with the neighborhood bootlegger. Her customers were mainly the local railroad men, who were still gainfully employed. She hid the bottles in the tall grass behind her house. And for a time, she was able to keep body and soul together.

The inevitable happened; the law caught up and the bootlegger went to jail.

Desperate, with only rags to cover herself, grandma tore up her one remaining sheet to make herself a dress.

On foot, she lumbered into town. She was a big woman now, at least six foot and weighing close to three hundred pounds. Stress and broken life had not been kind to her looks. With a head covering, she might have been mistaken for a member of the KKK. She would plead her hardship case before the local judge.

“Can you sew,” the judge asked?

Proud of herself now. She preened a little in her sheet dress.

“Yes judge. I make practically every stitch I wear.”

The judge sent her off to a newly opened sewing room in the heart of town. The employees are to make striped pajama uniforms for male prisoners. She was sure to make one for her friend, the recently incarcerated bootlegger.

Grandma regained her self-esteem. She was now on the right side of the law.

The Depression

Daddy was a teenager now and he knew how to handle a gun. With his trusty 22 rifle, he and his friends took to the woods. Often they’d take down a deer, shoot rabbits, squirrels, wild turkeys and even manage to bag a few quail.

The waterways of Florida weren’t polluted then. They were bountiful with healthy fish of all varieties, along with oysters and mussels. The Florida good ole boys managed to feed their families pretty well, despite the Depression.

Wild Life

The neighbors all had big families, including ours. There were nine of us. None that I know of ever lost a child to the wildlife. We lived on five acres. The woods were full of critters. But the big things daddy warned us about were wild cats (the Florida panther), and alligators.

“Always look up into the trees,” daddy warned. “The cat’s eyes glow at dusk. Keep your distance. Never walk under the trees. If it’s a female and she’s hiding kittens nearby, she’ll jump on you.”

When we’d picnic near a river or a lake, daddy would scan the scene.

“I see gators out there. You kids stay well clear of the edge. When those things come out of the water, they can run as fast as a racehorse. I’d never be able to reach you in time.”

A stern warning for sure, but we all made it to adulthood. Survival skills were taught basically by my grandmother. She passed them on to my father, he in turn, passed them on to us. Even after all these years, I still like to ride by grandma’s old house. It had changed owners several times and been remodeled to the point that it’s scarcely recognizable as the house that I remember. The big oak that once stood in the front yard is no longer there. At this I feel a little sad. I spent countless happy hours swinging from those sturdy limbs, in a home-made wooden swing, strung with ropes on either side.

Many years have passed, a moment in time. But, I guess it’s only natural to hang onto the good memories.

Florida Panther in the wild - ca. 1950s. Source: Florida Memory

An Orange Grove in Florida - Postcard - ca. 1934 Source: Randy Jaye collection

You Too Can Do Good by Getting Involved with Local History

by Randy Jaye & David Churchman

Looking for something interesting and rewarding to do in your spare time, chasing your own curiosity or due to semi-retirement? Consider getting involved with, or if nonexistent, starting a local history society.

Throughout the country local historical societies have collected and preserved local business records, letters, diaries, journals, oral histories, articles, books, films, and maps as well as tools, clothing, art, and other objects, many quite unusual, all begging for you to help organize, study, and turn into thought-provoking stories. Wherever you live, there is fascinating and satisfying work to be done. As examples, consider the goals and activities of two such societies 2482 miles apart.

The Southern Oregon Historical Society (SOHS), located at 106 N Central Ave., Medford, OR, has over 5000 photographs on glass negatives (and more on film), hundreds of items connected to the fur trade, the pioneers who arrived via the Oregon Trail, and records on the Klamath, Modoc, and Takelma tribes and Chinese and Japanese communities. SOHS has saved over a dozen historical buildings from demolition and gotten them listed on the National Register of Historic Places and one town as the first ever National Historic Landmark, and preserved numerous architectural drawings. SOHS members write and publish books, pamphlets, and newsletters including biographies of famous, notorious, little known but intriguing people, maintains archives, and events such as the last great train robbery in the U.S. in 1923 near the top of Siskiyou Pass. It is digitizing much of its material for easier access, provides maps for interesting walks, and publishes As It Was stories for radio or YouTube. It maintains a museum and offers free monthly public programs such as The Land Remembers (the largely forgotten long and bloody Indian war in Southern Oregon), The Old Wood House (a family or an abundant local building material?), Over Here (the home front during WWI?), Railway Scandals 1884-1923 (with luck may even be a little risqué), The Hidden Demographic (who could that be?) and Making History Together.

Further evidence of the vitality of local societies is provided by the Ormond Beach Historical Society (OBHS) in Florida. OBHS helped save and preserve the Ormond Indian Burial Mound (ca. 800 AD), Three Chimneys Sugar Mill (ca. 1765-1768), Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Church (ca. 1879), Hotel Ormond Cupola (ca. 1888), the Anderson-Price Memorial Building (ca. 1916), “The Casements (ca. 1913),” winter home and final residence of John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937), and one of three surviving WWII Watchtowers (ca. 1942) of the 850 once along the coastline of Florida. There are also tours of historic cemeteries, plantations, and archaeological sites throughout the year. OBHS administers a Welcome Center at the Victorian Style MacDonald House which also displays historic items and sells books, cards and gifts. OBHS uses the Anderson-Price Memorial Building, one of several local buildings on the National Register of Places, for live and virtual presentations, plays, and social events, as well as to display historic artifacts, paintings, photographs and furnishings. The

Speaker Series are live and virtual presentations conducted throughout the year that feature a vast array of topics concentrating on Florida’s long-lived history, and are presented by professionals from throughout the state.

Finally, OBHS maintains a website that provides considerable information about all of its activities, sponsored events, virtual exhibits and stories detailing the area’s history and publishes a twice monthly informative newsletter, History Happenings for subscribers.

Activities such as these provide opportunities to enrich your own life by putting your creativity and skills to good use or to learn new ones and to make new friends. Local history societies often rely on volunteers who learn on the job often in partnership with other organizations such as libraries, service clubs, and universities. One does not need a college degree in history or anything for that matter to contribute. Many volunteers are without formal training but curious about the history of their own little part of the world, or concerned with preserving buildings and the like, or just want to help out. If you do not want to do historical research, you might enjoy and have skills needed to restore old photographs, tools, clothes, furniture, or buildings, or with administrative tasks such as raising funds, mobilizing others to get involved, digitizing documents, designing attractive or provocative exhibits to help people understand what life was like years or centuries ago, guiding visitors, or clerking in the museum shop, to name a few among many possibilities depending on how your own local historical society operates and whether your own preferences are to stay behind the scenes or be part of the organization’s public face.

Source: sohs.org.

Home of the Southern Oregon Historical Society.

The MacDonald House – Office of the Ormond Beach Historical Society. Source: Photo by Randy Jaye.

Rockefeller and The Casements

by Alice Strickland

(Excerpt from the book: Ormond-On-The-Halifax, Chapter 13, published in 1980.)

A headline in The Daytona Daily News for Tuesday, October 15, 1918 caused almost as much excitement as the World War news when it announced: “Rockefeller Buys Home at Ormond.” The accompanying article stated: “John D. Rockefeller, the noted oil magnate, of Cleveland Ohio, has purchased the Huntington property at Ormond Beach...Mr. Rockefeller has a summer home at Pocantico Hills, Tarrytown, N.Y. and for the past number of years has been coming to Ormond Beach where he spent a great part of his time on the golf links of the Ormond Hotel.”

John D. Rockefeller had purchased the house on what today is the north end of Riverside Drive, and which had been built by Mrs. Huntington, the wife of the Reverend Harwood Huntington. Mrs. Huntington was the daughter of Mr. Goodhue, manufacturer of the Pullman automobile, and had built the house in Ormond Beach “to escape from attacks of hay fever.” Harry D. Sims, a former secretary of Rockefeller’s, wrote that for a number of years the Standard Oil millionaire had stayed at the “Bon Air Hotel” in Augusta, Georgia, for winter vacations and to play golf. Then in 1908, a golf friend of his who had played with him in Augusta, visited Daytona Beach and because the climate was warmer in Florida during the winter, suggested that Rockefeller could play more golf there, and recommended staying at the fireproof Clarendon Hotel in Daytona.

Secretary Sims wrote that Mr. Rockefeller was then in his 70s, and like most older men did not like changes in his routine, but the following winter had Mr. Sims “ascertain from Washington the average temperatures, rainfall, humidity, etc. of the climate at Daytona.” The information about the climate being satisfactory, the following winter Mr. Rockefeller had a touring car shipped by boat from New York to Jacksonville, and accompanied by his entourage which included his physician, Dr. Hamilton F. Biggar. Captain and Mrs. L.T. Schofield, his little granddaughter, Mathilde McCormick, and her governess, spent a very pleasant winter at Daytona. Each morning Rockefeller went to play golf at the Ormond Hotel Golf Course, and while there met old friends from Cleveland and elsewhere. In 1914, he stayed at the Ormond Hotel where it was said he and his entourage occupied one entire floor of the hotel. The owner of the Ormond Hotel was then Henry M. Flagler, who had been a partner of Rockefeller’s in the Standard Oil Company.

On Wednesday, December 18, 1918, Rockefeller arrived at Ormond from his pretentious Pocantico Hills mansion. “Kijkuit”, to take up residence at his new home which was called “The Casements” because of its many charming, hand-cut windows. The house was covered with grey, wooden shingles, and above the windows were green awnings rimmed with white. In front of the house were beautiful

gardens reaching down to the riverside which had been landscaped by P.F. Seabloom. It was said that Rockefeller’s wealth was believed to be over twelve billion dollars, and he was the richest man in America. He had come to spend his winters at Ormond because research scientists had told him it was a very healthy place in which to live. An article in the Daytona Daily News reported that since 1911 Rockefeller had “been in retirement from immediate active administration of his fortune.” Golf and motoring were listed as his chief diversions, and it was said that the favored few who had broken through his “wall of taciturnity, reported his personality to be of the most pleasing frankness and congeniality. He was without affectation or constraint...and the reminiscences of his by-gone days and exploits constitute the chief topic with those he consents to meet.” During the darkest days of World War I, when the fighting seemed to be going badly for the United States and its Allies. Rockefeller told a visitor, “that the news actually affected him so as to leave him in a physically weakened condition.”

In his previous, active years as the ruthless monopolizer of the oil refining industry, Rockefeller had been one of the most hated men in the country. However, after his retirement and death, when most of his wealth was given to worthy causes, the public image of Rockefeller as a robber of widows and orphans faded to the more charitable figure of a generous philanthropist. Living quietly and unobtrusively at The Casements Rockefeller eventually was accepted by the citizens of Ormond as “Neighbor John,” a title that pleased and flattered him. His arrival by train at the Ormond Railroad Station in the winters was greeted by some of the Ormond people - especially children who looked forward to receiving a dime from the elderly billionaire. Rockefeller’s custom of giving out dimes was said to “put people in a good humor bridged an awkward gap, and enabled him to paint a lesson in thrift.” He gave away about $5 a day in dimes which had been stuffed in his pocket each morning by his valet. He originally gave out nickels, but he remarked “they tarnished some and don’t stay as pretty as the dimes...Rockefeller remained thrifty all his life and it was said he always used old golf balls when playing near a water hole. Once, when he saw other players using new golf balls near the water hole, he commented, “They must be very rich.”

In his later years, “John D”, as he was sometimes called, was described as having “pale skin, freckles, and deep wrinkles.” The flesh was drawn tightly over his facial bones, his eyes were small, his nose rather sharp and prominent, and his mouth was a mere slit. He was totally bald, and most people were aware that he wore silvery grey wigs which cost $500 each. However, an article written about Rockefeller when he was in his forties described him as a “man of sturdy physique, almost six feet in height, with a full head of brown hair and a thick, reddish mustache. His blue eyes were keen. He carried himself with an air of authority, yet his manner was quiet and friendly, and only at moments would an observer be aware of a penetrating glance that surprised and disturbed him.”

“I hope to live 100 years,” Rockefeller once remarked. “for then I shall really begin to live.” Everything that could be done to keep Rockefeller alive and well was the overwhelming responsibility of his male nurse, John Yordi, a Swiss, who had first been Rockefeller’s valet, and who remained with

him, night and day, until he died. It was said that “Yordi succeeded where doctor’s failed.” When Rockefeller moved into The Casements it was said that a “miniature hospital with standard hospital equipment” was installed. Throughout the years many myths and stories arose about Rockefeller’s efforts to live to be a hundred. One of them was that wet nurses supplied the milk on which he lived, and another that when he went visiting, Yordi went ahead of him into every room with a thermometer to register the temperature. However, his personal photographer, Curt Engelbrecht, who knew Rockefeller well for many years, insisted that he was “Never a helpless invalid,” and that food was served to him in minute portions.” Engelbrecht also stated that Rockefeller’s favorite tonic was orange juice and his favorite beverage was cow’s milk.”

The highlight of Rockefeller’s winter residence at The Casements was the annual Christmas party to which a carefully selected list of guests was invited, and local citizens attempted to get a glimpse of the brightly lighted casement windows with their festive electric candles and wreaths of holly. The exterior of the house was illuminated by floodlights, and a large star shone above the entrance. The interior was beautifully decorated with greenery draping the staircase, laurel streamers hanging from the walls to the center of the high, colored-glass-domed ceiling, in the atrium, and “all around the walls were the star-pointed poinsettias.” A huge, Christmas tree covered with decorations and presents, and with a huge pile of gifts beneath it, awaited the arrival of Santa Claus. Singers from the Lion’s Club in Daytona sang songs, and then Rockefeller made his appearance in evening clothes and gave a brief, formal welcome. The rector from the Ormond Union Church gave a brief prayer, then Santa Claus appeared and gifts were distributed. Refreshments, consisting of ice cream and cake were served to the guests, but Rockefeller did not partake of them. Shortly after refreshments were served Rockefeller retired, and after some group singing the guests left for home.

Rockefeller took a keen interest in the speed trials on the beach and often watched the races from the beach. When J.M. White’s “Triplex” was on exhibit at the Ormond Garage, he paid a visit to see it and met White, who explained its mechanism to him. He also met some of the famous race drivers, including Sir Malcolm Campbell, who, while driving the famous “Bluebird” had a Rockefeller dime in his pocket. One of John D’s most prized gifts was a brand new, eight-cylinder Ford, which was given to him by Henry Ford.

As the guests left The Casements they were often presented with a jar of jelly from Carnell’s “jelly factory.”

Rockefeller was a devout church-goer, and regularly attended the Ormond Union Church. He would wait for most of the congregation to leave before making his exit, and then would stand on the lawn for a short time and give out dimes. When the Village Improvement Association gave its annual fair on the lawn in front of the clubhouse Rockefeller would put in an appearance and stroll among the booths. If some of the performers were singing, he could be persuaded to join in. He attended concerts at the Ormond Hotel, and took short drives around the countryside in his chauffeur driven car. If the

weather was cold he would wear a heavy over-coat, a cloth cap with earmuffs, and a warm robe across his knees.

When he had passed his 93rd year Rockefeller found “it necessary to give up his daily outdoor exercises and retired from all physical activity.” Rumors of his death were repeatedly circulated and kept newsmen on their toes day and night. It was on May 23, 1937, at the age of 97, that Rockefeller passed away peacefully in his sleep at The Casements. Private funeral services were held there on May 24, and were attended by his household staff, and a few local residents. His favorite hymns were sung, and according to a newspaper article, “Shortly after 2:00 p.m. Mr. Rockefeller’s body left The Casements. Four motorcycle policemen flanked the hearse and behind it was nine automobiles. The casket bore 2 wreaths of lilies and ferns. Slowly the cortege rolled across the Halifax bridge to the railroad station.” A private railroad car carried the casket north where funeral services were held at Pocantico Hills, and burial was in Cleveland, Ohio. “Rockefeller had made his last ride across the Ormond bridge, and Ormond had lost its “Neighbor John.”

The Rockefeller family sold The Casements in 1941 to Miss Maud Van Woy, who had been the owner and president of Fairmont Junior College, Washington, D.C. Miss Van Woy enlarged The Casements and added a building to the south for students of her “Junior College for Young Women.” A description of the school in a brochure stated: “The Casements has a most attractive drawing room and many sun porches flooded with sunshine. All the bedrooms are furnished with good taste, they vary in size accommodating one, two or three girls. There is a large building with recitation rooms and laboratories, there is also a little theatre and library.” Miss Van Woy operated the exclusive school for ten years, and then in 1951 sold the property to the Fellowship Foundation, Inc. for a reputed $150,000, including all furnishings and fixtures. The Ormond Hotel had also been purchased by the Foundation, whose director was C.A. Maddy. Both the hotel and The Casements were to become a “Fellowship Center, a plan to provide room and board to life-time and transient guests.” In 1953, the Maddy enterprise collapsed, and in 1959, Lavin-Jensen paid $100,000 for The Casements. In that same year Lavin-Jensen sold the property for $128,000 to the Ormond Hotel Casements Inc. (which had also purchased the Ormond Hotel). The officers of the corporation were Thomas J. Wetherell, Harriet Cogswell and Thomas T. Cobb.

It was on January 9, 1971, that shocked residents of Ormond Beach read in the Daytona Beach Observer that, “An $8 million project of approximately 180 condominium-home units has been proposed for the 8-acre former estate of the late John D. Rockefeller of Ormond Beach.” The announcement was made by the owners, Thomas J. Wetherell and T.T. Cobb, and for seven years Ormond Beach citizens fought a determined battle to save the mansion from this undesirable project. The Ormond Beach City Commission refused to change the zoning so that the $8 million project could replace The Casements, and this was a great victory for the citizens who had worked so hard to preserve it. Many citizens of Ormond Beach had written to the Rockefeller family to preserve the house for a historic site, but they did not respond. Then in 1972 fire broke out on the top floor of the now

deserted and deteriorating mansion, and was finally extinguished by 27 firemen from three departments. The fire had gutted two rooms and others were burned extensively. However, in 1972, The Casements had been added to the National Register of Historic places. Then again, in July, 1974, The Casements was gutted by fire, evidently started by vandals, and it seemed as if the historic old structure had come to a final, and tragic end. But now a kindlier fate intervened, and after years of negotiations the city finally purchased The Casements in 1973 for $500.000. The city’s historical advisory board, and the Ormond Beach Historical Trust, Inc. began a determined effort to preserve, restore and transform the crumbling building into a cultural and civic center for the community. As a result of their efforts Ormond Beach received a federal public works project grant of $449,000 in September, 1977 - a great, and satisfying triumph for those who had worked so hard and long to obtain it.

Updates Since This Book Was Originally Published

In 2000, the State of Florida designated John D. Rockefeller “A Great Floridian.” In 2014, the Florida Division of Historical Resources approved a Florida Historical Marker for the Casements. Today, the Casements is open to the public for tours, and holds multiple community events throughout the year, and is available for private rentals.

Winter Home of John D. Rockefeller, Ormond Beach, Fla. – Postcard - ca. 1932 Source: Ormond Beach Historical Society.

The Casements, Junior College for Girls, Ormond Beach, Fla. - Postcard - ca. 1940s. Source: Ormond Beach Historical Society.

Lavin Casements Hotel - Former John D. Rockefeller Estate - Ormond Beach, Fla. - Postcard – ca. 1960. Source: Randy Jaye collection.

The Casements – Northwest Front View. Photo by Randy Jaye (June 2022).

The Casements – Northwest Gate Entrance View. Photo by Randy Jaye (June 2022).

The

Samples of OBHS’s Historic Photographic & Postcard Collections

The following two photographs were donated by the Friends of the Ormond Beach Library.

Ormond Hotel guests riding in Afromobiles pause for a moment under John Anderson’s grape arbor on his Santa Lucia Plantation, immediately north of the Ormond Hotel, April 8, 1905.

Bretton Inn, which was located just south of the Granada Avenue approach to the beach - ca. 1910. It was torn down in 1923 to be replaced by the Coquina Hotel.

The following two postcards were donated by Ned Kraft. Setzer’s Lighthouse Restaurant, Ormond Beach, Fla. - ca. 1957.

Rose Villa, Ormond, Fla. - ca. 1918.

The following two photographs were donated by Robert Sanford. (They were taken by Sanford’s grandfather, the photographer Ross Edward Apgar, who was in Ormond, Florida in 1906.)

The Stanley Steamer aerodynamic designed race car called the ‘Rocket’ was the fastest car in the world in 1906. It was driven by Fred Marriott on the beach at Ormond to a world record of one mile in 28-1/5 seconds, or 127.6 miles per hour. This steam machine world record lasted for 103 years - it was finally broken in 2009.

Stanley Steamer Pre-Model K race car at an Ormond Automobile Beach Race in 1906.

Brief Biographies of this Edition’s Authors

Alice Norris Strickland was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, England in 1912 and died in Ormond Beach on August 5, 2003. After her family moved to the United States in 1921, she attended Ormond Elementary School, Seabreeze High School and Mundell’s Business School. She married Cary E. Strickland in 1933. She served as the curator of the Fred Dana Marsh Museum in Tomoko State Park for 13 years, and was a member of the Ormond Writer’s League, the Halifax Historical Society, the National League of American Penwomen and the Volusia County Historical Commission. In 1988, she received the Honorary Award of the Ormond Beach Historical Trust, and was voted Woman of the Year in 1991 by the citizens of Ormond Beach. She was a well-known local historian who published many articles and 4 books: The Valiant Pioneers (1963), Ormond-on-the-Halifax: A Centennial History of Ormond Beach, Florida (1980), History of the Ormond Hotel 1887-1992 (1992) and Ormond’s Historic Homes (1992).

David Churchman is Professor Emeritus, California State University and three-time Fulbright Scholar who has authored some 200 articles and books, the latter including Why We Fight: The Origins, Nature and Management of Human Conflict and Negotiation: Process, Tactics, Theory. Currently, he lives in Oregon, where he continues to write and volunteer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and with the Community Emergency Response Team.

Juanita Price is a local writer born and raised in Florida. After living in South Carolina for ten years she moved back to her home state. She has worked as an independent journalist doing freelance assignments for a few local newspapers.

Randy Jaye has recently researched and nominated 4 properties that have been successfully added onto the National Register of Historic Places. He is the author of three recent history books: Flagler County, Florida: A Centennial History | Perseverance: Episodes of Black History from the Rural South and Jim Crow Era Propaganda, Artifacts and Upheavals in Florida. He also writes articles for historical journals, local newspapers, magazines and online publications. He earned both a Master’s degree and a Bachelor’s degree from California State University. He has been on the Board of Directors for the Ormond Beach Historical Society since 2020.

Ormond Beach Historical Society - Board of Directors (2022)

Joy Brown Leslie Madigan

Julie Carson Sample Pat

Bobbi Coleman (2nd Vice President) Alisa Rogers

Dr. Frank Diefenderfer

Dr. Philip J. Shapiro (President)

Jim Geis Joan Skirde

Pattie Gertenbach

Mary Smith (Treasurer)

Mia James (Recording Secretary) Shirley Stover

Randy Jaye Laurie Taylor

Dr. Sue Kim Elaine Tindell

Jerry Lampe (Past President) Erlene Turner

Ormond Beach Historical Society – Staff

Julia Bussinger (Executive Director)

Desiree Girty (Office Manager)

Cheri King (Office Assistant)

Randall Herron (Anderson-Price Building Superintendent)

Brief History of the Ormond Beach Historical Society (OBHS)

The OBHS was formed in 1976 as the Ormond Beach Historical Trust. The OBHS’s first major project was to save The Casements (John D. Rockefeller’s house from 1918 until his death in 1938) from demolition. The Casements was added onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was subsequently restored and now functions as the Cultural Center for the City of Ormond Beach. Other historic sites and structures that the OBHS helped to preserve include the Indian Burial Mound (ca. 800) located on South Beach Street across from Ames Park, the Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Church (ca. 1879) in Bailey Riverbridge Gardens Park, the Ormond Hotel Cupola (ca. 1887) in Fortunato Park, the Anderson-Price Memorial Building (ca. 1915) at 42 North Beach Street, the Three Chimneys Sugar Mill Ruins (ca. 1768) at 715 West Granada Boulevard and the World War II Watchtower (ca. 1942), on Highway A1A, 4.3 miles north of Granada Boulevard. The OBHS currently owns and preserves the Anderson-Price Memorial Building (deeded to the OBHS by the Ormond Beach Woman’s Club in 2002), and the Nathan Cobb Cottage (bequeathed to the OBHS by Tom Massfeller in 2020). The OBHS’s main office is in the MacDonald House, 38 E. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach, where it also operates the Ormond Beach Welcome Center.