"New
Smyrna is a quality city with its character remaining
despite additions," said Mayor Vandergrifft. For this city
with a year-round population of 21,000 (with an extra 10,000
seasonal residents and a weekend influx of 3,000), the additions
are impressive.
New Smyrna Beach is home to the
internationally renowned Atlantic Center for the Arts, a
non-profit interdisciplinary artists-in-residence community and
arts education facility. The center provides mid-career artists an
opportunity to work and collaborate with some of the world's most
distinguished contemporary artists in the fields of composition
and visual, literary, and performing arts. It houses an art
gallery, an amphitheater, workshops, studios and residencies for
the artists.
The city also has two award winning
commercial redevelopment districts and is currently constructing
or developing two new community centers, a sports complex, two
environmentally sensitive parks, three new water oriented parks
and a municipal boardwalk.
Of course, these add-ons don't take
away from the natural beauty of the area or the city's textured
history.
New Smyrna Beach is touted as a
small town with the sophisticated ambiance of a seaside resort and
its 13 miles of coast are reputed to be the "World's Safest
Bathing Beach." Water activities abound - the surfing is said
to be the best in the area and the fishing is described as
first-class.
The prime recreational areas are
equally well known for their marinas, restaurants, shops and
unique lodging opportunities. The numerous boutiques and historic
bed and breakfast inns along Riverside Drive are all part of a
redevelopment plan that has revitalized the city while paying
special attention to preserve its numerous historical monuments.
New Smyrna Beach is proud to be the
third oldest settlement in Florida. The name "New
Smyrna" was given by the city's founder, Dr. Andrew Turnbull,
to honor his wife, whose birthplace was Smyrna (now Izmir),
Turkey. The New Smyrna colony, settled in 1268, was the site of
the largest British attempt at colonization in the New World.
Dr. Turnbull acquired the land in
1763, when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British and large land
grants and bounties were offered to encourage colonization.
That same year, Dr. Turnbull sailed
to Greece, Italy and Minorca to recruit settlers for his new
colony. In the summer of 1768, after a three-month journey in
which 148 settlers were buried at sea, Dr. Turnbull's ships
arrived in St. Augustine and the remaining settlers continued by
land and by sea to New Smyrna.
With a population of around 1500,
the colony was three times the size of the Jamestown colony. But,
the colony had problems from the beginning. Religious differences,
drought, political problems, supply shortages, hard labor and an
abundance of mosquitoes quickly whittled the population down to
600. In 1777, once the colonists' indenture contracts ran out,
many fled to St. Augustine, leaving behind the miles of irrigation
and drainage canals they built that are still in use today.
In 1784, the Spanish returned to
Florida and encouraged immigration by offering land grants as the
English had, but Native American uprisings became so frequent that
New Smyrna became Fort New Smyrna. For a period of time, troops
were the city's only residents.
In 1835, New Smyrna was designated
the county seat of "Mosquito County." The community was
destroyed during the second Seminole Indian War.
The community was rebuilt and was
the site of a Civil War encounter that left eight people dead.
After the Civil War, the community was again repaired and in 1877,
the town was organized and incorporated. In 1947, the cities of
New Smyrna and Coronado Beach were merged and New Smyrna Beach was
formed.
The city utilizes the
commission-manager form of government, which was adopted in 1921.
Mayor Vandergrifft serves on the commission along with four other
citizens, all elected in citywide elections. Currently, Mayor
Vandergrifft, Vice Mayor William Rogers and Commissioners James
Hathaway, Jo Ann O'Bannon and Oretha Bell makeup the City
Commission.
For more information, contact the
Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce at (800) 541-9621 or visit
the Web site,
Chamber of
Commerce.
by:
Robyn Lewis is publications assistant for the Florida League o f
Cities.
from: Quality Cities -
November/December 2000
