Welcome To AstorFlorida.com
Astor Florida is located north of
Orlando Florida between Silver Springs and Daytona Beach along Highway 40 on the St
Johns
River and Lake George. Astor Florida is a small Florida Vacation community, where fishing, boating,
&
hunting dominate the
activities on the St Johns River. Astor Florida is home to
many tourists and Winter visitors for a quiet Florida vacation.
While Exploring the St. John's River in early 1596, Don Pedro
Menendez made the following notes into his diary: "We found the third
village of the savages on the West bank, halfway between a very big lake
and a smaller one farther up stream on a likable spot in the shade of
formidable trees. The river seems to be full of goodly fish, and the
forest inhabited by all kinds of birds and beasts, the meat of which
is quite tasty."
The royal botanist John Bartram and his son visited the same spot in 1765
to study the flora and the fauna of the St. John's. Upon discovering a
trading post named Spalding's Upper Store, they decided to stay several
weeks. In his subsequent book "TRAVELS", William Bartram devoted
72 pages to describing the area in vivid and colorful detail, such as
"this blessed land where the gods have amassed into one heap all
the flowering plants, birds, fish and other wildlife of two continents in
order to turn the rushing streams, the silent lake shores and the
awe-abiding woodlands of this mysterious land into a true garden of eden."
This "likable spot of goodly fish", this "garden of Eden" is
today called ASTOR and is still here for those who thirst for the unspoiled
wilderness. The water of the St. John's rolling relentlessly along the
evergreen shores of silent hammocks dotted with dreamy ponds
and spellbound creeks are still harboring the famous prize-winning fish,
the cautious bobcats, playful otters, clumsy black bears, shy wild
turkeys and the rare Florida panthers. The slender osprey is Astor's
mascot bird, but standing on the shoreline you can see hundreds of
egret's, herons and water turkeys. You can watch the majestic flight
of the bald eagle and enjoy flowers of many colors year round.
Surrounded by the huge Ocala National Forest,
and settled into the restless onyx-band of our great river, Astor is
indeed the precious jewel of Central Florida one has to see just
once never to forget it again.
The Presbyterian Church of Astor was formed on September 10, 1916,
and the congregation had their early meetings in the schoolhouse.
A foundation for a church building was laid in 1917, but construction
was delayed because of a materials shortage caused by World War I.
It was finally dedicated on April 20, 1919. The congregation
dissolved in 1950.
A Baptist mission was started in Astor in 1948 by Stetson ministry
student, Earl Joiner. The congregation bought the old building in
1953 for $500 and became a separate church in 1963. The present
sanctuary was built in 1982.
On the east bank was a fort known as Ft. Barnwell, Ft. Columbia
and Ft. Call, near the settlement of Volusia. This was the county
seat of Mosquito County from 1824 until 1843. Near here passed
the William Bartram Trail, the route taken by the famed
naturalist in May and June of 1774 while he classified flora
and fauna of the area. Near here was the Volusia Military Cemetery,
situated near Forts Volusia and Call. Next to this site was the
Methodist Episcopal Church, built with pine poles in 1845 within
the enclosure of Fort Call.
Union army veteran E. E. Ropes of Milton, Massachusetts, moved to
Florida and served as postmaster of Volusia from 1868 to 1870. He
bought this landing and erected a log cabin on it. He served as the
first Worshipful Master of the Volusia Lodge #77 in 1874, the
oldest Masonic lodge in Volusia County.
Barney Dillard, Sr., came to Salt Springs in 1866, and later
moved to Astor with his family. He is reputed to have told
stories to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, which she used as the
basis of her book, The Yearling. He discovered the early
Spanish mission on the east side of the river known as San
Salvador de Mayaca built in 1657, and the fort Antonio de
Anacape built in 1680.
Dillard also traced the routes of the Spanish trails that
covered the state from east to west: One that connected St.
Augustine, DeLeon Springs and Titusville, the Black Bear Trail
to Pensacola, and the Dragoon Trail south through Lake County.
The Volusia Museum was the property of Lillian Dillard Gibson,
local historian and one of fifteen Dillard children who drew
lots to determine which portion of the land on the east bank
of the river they would inherit from their father. On hers, she
established not only a home but also a museum containing
artifacts found in local Indian mounds, early documents and
photographs, and memorabilia from pioneer life along the St.
Johns River.
The first bridge across the St. Johns River was opened in 1926.
At the same time, the road was paved from Ocala to Astor to
Barberville. It was a draw bridge with a covered part and a house
for a bridge tender on the west bank. The first tender was the
former ferry operator, McQueen Johnson.
While he was on duty in the middle of the bridge he was shot in
the back, and fell across the very middle of the bridge, with
his head in Lake County and his feet in Volusia County. Both
counties refused to claim jurisdiction and the murder was never
investigated. The new bridge was built in 1978. The bridge house
was moved away in 1980.
In 1763, James Spalding and Roger Kelsell established two trading
posts on the St. Johns River. Their "upper store" was located in Astor,
with the "lower store" south of Palatka. Spalding chose
the Astor site because it was at the crossing of three Indian
trails coming here from the southwest, west and northwest. The
location was also used by several Indian villages for launching
their canoes when fishing or hunting parties wanted to explore
the river. In 1769, Gov. James Grant promised Spalding to make a
town out of his upper store. He didn't keep that promise. In 1774,
Indians ransacked the store and the storekeepers fled to Shell
Isle. When Spalding closed the store, the chiefs agreed to pay
for the damage. By 1776, William Panton was in business with
Spalding.
Later, Mr. Forbes succeeded Panton and Mr. Leslie succeeded
Spalding in the business. The site was later the location of
Fort Butler, a crude log stockade and barracks erected in 1838.
It was designed to protect the river. A post office was
established at the fort in 1839. The fort was abandoned in 1843
for health reasons.
William Astor, the grandson of John Jacob Astor, bought 12,905.93
acres on the river from the Moses Levy estate. With his partners,
William S. Boyd and Richard McLaughlin, a 12,000-acre
town site was laid out and named Manhattan. Lots were 20 acres
and square, surrounded by roads on all sides. The downtown
section had normal size city lots. Buildings included a
nondenominational church, schoolhouse, and free cemetery. William
Astor built the Astor Hotel in 1878. It included a post office
and Clyde Line steamship agency office. The town was renamed
Astor in 1884.
William Astor died in April 25, 1892, and John Jacob Astor IV inherited
the land. When he died on April 15, 1912, on the Titanic,
the land became the property of son William Vincent Astor,
who was not interested in it. He sold it in 1916 to the
Duluth Land Company and it was marketed largely to
Finnish immigrants in Minnesota.
In 1928, the Astor Hotel burned, and the town declined
as a commercial center. Although most sources claim that
the Spalding store was located here on the west side of
the river, Barney Dillard remembered it as being on the
east side, near the store he bought in 1866. There
is no conclusive evidence supporting either contention.
In 1878, a railroad was built from Astor Landing to Lake
Eustis, and Manhattan became a booming town. J. H.
Caldwell was the station master. The dock adjoined the
railroad depot. The railroad was liquidated in 1931, and
the depot was replaced by the Boat House.
Martin Hendrickson, a real estate broker for the Duluth
Land Company, and his wife, Saimi, built the Manhattan
Hotel here. It was later called the Railroad Hotel. It
burned down in 1925.
The town's second landing dock was located up river, next
to the packing house. This was the previous location of
Moses Levy's sugar processing plant, and before that the
Huertas estate.
In 1819, Moses E. Levy purchased a huge tract of land
from Spain. He became a citizen of the U.S. on March 23,
1822, and the U.S. courts recognized his purchases. He
established two settlements-Pilgrimage, south of today's
Gainesville, and Hope Hill. Levy established
plantations at both locations, and cleared a road to
connect the two, crossing the Ocklawaha River by ferry
at Orange Springs. He had hoped to create a new Israel
for the persecuted Jews of Europe.
Here, he raised oranges and indigo, and had a mansion on a
hill which later became Astor Park. In 1838, the mansion
was burned down by Indians. Moses Levy moved to Virginia,
where he died in 1854.
The first permanent residents in this community were
William Stokes Boyd, James P. Doss, J. H. Caldwell, and
A. L. Smith. Doss had come here in 1882 to manage the
Astor estate, and built his two-story frame home here.
It has been modernized in later years and became the home
of the Wass de Czege family in 1952.
Lake Schermerhorn was named in 1875 after William Astor's
wife, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor.
The Shelley family had their house here, before Mr. Komula
built the Forest Tavern. This later became the Forest Tavern.
The cemetery was established in 1885 when William B. Astor donated
the land for it. The oldest gravestone is that of H. B. Sanders,
who died in 1886. Charles and Anna Gustafson arrived in Astor
in 1917 and settled in this house, later owned by son Albert.
A post office was established at Ft. Butler on June 23, 1847,
and renamed Volusia on January 2, 1858. In 1923, a development
known as National Gardens sprang up, and the post office was
renamed that on August 30, 1924. That post office was
discontinued on March 31, 1956. The Astor post office moved
into this building in 1975, having previously been located in
what is now a real estate office, and before that in a corner
of the grocery store.
The first school in Astor opened on September 7, 1885. A
two-story schoolhouse was built a half block south of here in
about 1918 of heart pine, painted white with black trim
around the windows. It had two classrooms downstairs and an
auditorium upstairs. It served grades one through eight.
The school closed in 1943, and since then children on the
west bank are bused to Paisley and Umatilla. The schoolhouse
was sold to the Baptists, who utilized it as a mission with
Deland ministerial students conducting the services. The
Astor Community Club was organized in 1952, and used the
schoolhouse as a community center. The club folded about four
years later. The building has also been used as a private
residence and business office.
Lake County History
The region of Central
Florida that is now known
as Lake County has been inhabited for thousands of years. For
the same reasons that still bring people to this area, namely
mild weather, excellent growing conditions, and an abundance
of fish and game, the Timucuan Indians called this region home.
Evidence of their presence is throughout Lake County. In fact,
there are more than 1000 identified archeological sites in
Lake County, as recognized by the state.
In 1562 a French Huguenot colony was established at the
present site of Astor on the St. Johns River. The
entire colony was wiped out by the Spanish is 1566.
During the late 1560's the Spanish established a system of
missions throughout the Lake County area with the goal of
converting the Indians to Catholicism. What they accomplished,
instead was to massacre uncooperative villages and spread
European diseases to the rest.
By 1763 when James Spalding established a trading post at
Astor, there were few Indians left in the area.
British Royal botanist, William Bartram came to the area
to study the "flora and fauna." He made the first
sighting of a royal palm tree in North America in Lake
County in 1774.
During the Revolutionary War all of Florida belonged to the
British and residents were loyal to that country. A few
white hunters and traders lived in Lake County, along with
runaway slaves and Freedmen who found hiding in the scrub
to be very effective means of evading the Slave Hunters.
In 1782, Spain re-occupied Florida and began awarding large
tracts of land to reward favors. In 1819 Moses Levy received
such a land grant from the Spanish. He established a plantation
along the St. Johns River in Lake County, which was to be a
settlement for oppressed European Jews. He was the father of
David Levy, who later changed his name to "Yulee." Mr. Yulee
was Florida's first senator after it acquired its
statehood. During the first Seminole Indian War, the
Seminole Indians burned the plantation to the ground.
Forts were built throughout the county, known then as
Mosquito County, to defend the settlers against the Seminole
Indians. In 1823, at the Treaty of Moultie Creek, the
Seminoles were ordered to live in a reservation, most of
which was in Lake County.
At the close of the Seminole War in 1842, Congress passed
the Armed Occupation Act. It offered 160 acres to any man
who would bear arms to protect the area against potential
renewed hostilities, if he would build a habitable dwelling,
live on the property for five years and cultivate at least
five acres of his homestead. Many men accepted the challenge
and joined the blacks already engaged in farming here.
Towns grew and vanished. Other towns took their places.
When the Civil War started in 1861, there were several large
plantations and many small farms in Lake County. Florida
became one of the states to secede from the Union. The
Statute of April 1862 forced most white males between the
ages of 18 and 35 into involuntary service to the Confederacy.
By September of that year the age limit was increased to 45
and soon 17-year-old young men were conscripted. This left
only women and their slaves to run the plantations and farms.
Even at that, Lake County has able to provide beef and
other provisions to the army. The people left at home
simply "went without."
By the end of the Civil War in 1865, another homesteading
act was in place, again offering 160 acres of land to
settlers who would live on the land for five years and
improve it. Soldiers, both Rebel and Yankee were eager to
get on with their lives. The attractive Homesteading Act
offered a fresh start and many men took advantage of the
opportunity and came to Lake County to make their homes.
In July 1887, Lake County became a county. It was carved
from Orange and Sumter counties. The courthouse, known as
the Pioneer Building was dedicated in 1889.
Contracts were let for the construction of the first hard
surface roads in Lake County in 1915. Prior to that most
transportation was on the waterways with special hybrid
steam/paddlewheel boats. An elaborate system of railroads
was also developed.
A militia group was established during the Spanish-American
War. It was called the 'Leesburg Rifles" and were ready to
bravely defend our country.
Many young Lake County men enlisted in the Armed Services of
this and other countries during the First World War. Others
stayed at home and served in the Home Guard. World War II
took many Lake County men to war. Again, a Home Guard was
established which combed the evening skies for enemy planes.
The civilian effort was strong in support of the war. Lake
County was famous for the number of war bonds sold here and
scrap metal collected. In fact, the first war bond sold in
the United States was sold in Leesburg. Lake County was
the site of a Prisoner of War camp during the Second World
War, as well.
Early industry consisted of reliance on the land: farming,
citrus growing, lumber, turpentine, etc. All of this to some
degree or another relied on the weather and time and time
again big freezes killed not only crops and citrus, but
also hopes and dreams. Back-to-back freezes in 1894 and
1895 devastated large and small farms alike. Some farmers
replanted and others settled here, making their living at
farming. Lake County was known worldwide for its record
crops of peaches, tomatoes, watermelon, ferns, and, of
course, citrus. Other industries moved into Lake County
and the economy grew.
Lake County's history is rich and diverse. It sparkles
with the ingenuity of its' people. Colorful stories abound.
Today, as in the past, Lake County is a pleasant place to
live and work.
MORE ASTOR FLORIDA HISTORY-THE TOWN THAT DIED TWICE...
AND LIVES AGAIN...
Astor, a little town with a big name, is like the proverbial
cat with many lives. It has thrived, died twice and lives again
- all in a period of 150 years.
This is not to say that the community on the St. Johns River,
between Lakes Dexter and George in Lake County, Florida, has
become a thriving metropolis. But it has been experiencing a
second rebirth as a sportsman's mecca. Ultra-modern fishing
camps have sprung up everywhere and real estate, far out in
the woods, is being sold.
Today's tourists see little to indicate that this was once the
site of ambitious dreams of two financial giants - Moses Levy,
of a distinguished Portuguese-Jewish family, and William Astor,
grandson of John Jacob Astor who came from Germany in 1784 with
50 cents in his pocket an died at 82 worth $30 million dollars.
Yet even the money and power of these pioneers of this picturesque
community, couldn't hurry or change the destiny of the hunting and
fishing grounds of the fierce Timucuan Indians and later the
Seminoles.
In modern day parlance, we would call Moses Levy the pioneer developer
of present day Astor. It was he who braved the terrors of malaria,
wild beasts and pillaging Indians to establish a colony for oppressed
Jews from Europe.
But since the settlement received its name and experienced its greatest
prosperity during the Astor regime, the story of Astor should probably
be told in reverse.
William Astor purchased the Moses Levy tract of around 80,000 acres
along the St. Johns River in 1874. At that time the vast acreage with
its virgin forests and dark swamplands had lain idle for nearly three
decades, with little evidence of Moses Levy's ill-fated colony.
No doubt the hunting, fishing and excellent water routes appealed
to the new owner. He must have felt also that here was an opportunity
to add to his already huge fortune, for soon after the purchase, he
started an extensive building program. Hotels, including Astor House,
wharves and warehouses were built, a railroad purchased, a telegraph
office opened.
Some historians suggest, however, that William Astor developed Astor
like Ferncliff (his famous estate on the Hudson River) as an escape
from his wife's endless round of social formalities on Fifth Avenue.
Mrs. Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, acknowledged queen of society and
leader of the exclusive Four Hundred, clutched the scepter tightly.
William scorned the social whirl that surrounded his wife, and he
also detested the office-bound life of his brother, John Jacob Astor
III. Whenever he tired of Ferncliff, he stole away on his yacht,
the Ambassadress, to spend the winters in Jacksonville and his
thriving new town of Astor. On these trips, he practically lived
aboard his yacht even when it was in port, since he disliked hotels.
The story goes that one day the yacht Ambassadress--the largest yacht
afloat at the time--got stuck on the bar at the mouth of the St. Johns
and Astor engaged the Mabey and Oyster Bay tugs to tow her off. He
complained bitterly that the bill was exorbitant, but he finally paid
it. However, he determined to have personal satisfaction, so he
brought his own tug, the Seth Low, into the harbor and ordered it
to tow all vessels in and out free of charge. This arrangement
naturally upset the towing business.
Dr. L'Engle, owner of the tugs which had extricated the Ambassadress,
decided the best thing he could do was to buy the offending boat.
Astor agreed to the sale but insisted that he go to New York for it.
This L'Engle did. When the transaction was closed, Astor wrote across
the bill, "Dog eat dog".
William Astor liked fair play and, although negligent in many ways and
things, he gave generously to all community projects in his new
settlement. He donated the first church, and also aided in the
building of the schoolhouse. Both buildings are still standing. The
church is still in use and the schoolhouse is now used for a church
youth group.
The steamboat era reached its peak on the St. Johns by that time. The
Debary, Baya and Clyde lines brought in mail, freight and tourists to
the settlements along the river. The Palmetto and the Astor homes
were listed in a Clyde Line pamphlet as the two hotels at Astor, with
rates of $2 per day.
William Astor's railroad later known as the St. Johns and Lake
Eustis Line, ran from Astor to the "Great Lakes Region" of Florida--
touching Lakes Eustis, Dora, Harris and Griffin. For a time it earned
an eight per cent dividend. The boat from Jacksonville to Astor
connected with the train inland as far West as Leesburg.
One of the early settlers in this area, J. G. Cade, remembered
that when he arrived as a lad of 11 with his parents from Kentucky
in 1884, "Astor was so crowded that it was impossible to find lodging
for that night. It took the incoming boat several hours to unload
and reload for its return trip".
With a successful railroad and booming community, Astor now turned
his attention to growing citrus. He was among the first capitalists
to subject himself to a squirt in the eye from the juicy grapefruit.
He liked it so well that he added it to the breakfast table of the
local Astor House and to the Astoria, later the Waldorf-Astoria, in
New York.
The popular Astor House also served such delicacies as broiled quail,
baked duck, venison, bear steak and broiled bass, attracting many
and millionaires from the North. Friends of the Astors also built
small Winter cottages in the community.
Persons of lesser means came, too -- some seeking health, others to
establish permanent homes. There were two general stores in Astor in
the late 1890's, one on each side of the river, which had to be crossed
either by rowboat or ferry.
In these mercantile establishments, you could buy groceries of all
kinds, tobacco, snuff, firearms, harnesses, calomel, quinine, calico
and brogan shoes. "At the rear of the stores stood three wooden
barrels with faucets," Mr. Cade remembered. "One contained liquor, one
vinegar and one cane syrup - all sold by the gallon. You had to furnish
your own container and, furthermore, drink your $1 per gallon liquor at
home," the old gentleman chuckled. "Often," he added, "no money passed
over the counter. The proprietors took anything you had or raised on
your place in trade -- sometimes a hen and a few chicks, a dozen eggs,
fruit, as well as alligator, cow and deer hides."
On William Astor's death in 1894, most of the estate went to his son,
John Jacob Astor IV, who was an inventor, capitalist and lieutenant
colonel during the Spanish-American War. In contrast to this father,
John Jacob was a stickler for method and often rewrote a telegram to
save a dime. During his ownership, some of the pine timber was
leased for turpentine.
John Jacob Astor perished in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and
his Florida property went to his son, William Vincent Astor.
But with the coming of the railroad, now a part of the ACL, through
the Central and Western part of the state in 1885, and Flagler's
railroad to Florida's East Coast in the late 1890's the prosperity of
Astor was doomed. Thus, steamboat travel declined, hotels were torn
down and tourists went elsewhere.
After the disastrous freeze of 1894-95 and the later abandonment of
the St. Johns and Lake Eustis Railroad, many of the residents left
for greener pastures. A few, including the Barney Dillard family,
remained in the ghost town. They had faith in the future of their
community and believed it would prosper again.
Their faith paid off. In recent years, newcomers have opened up
ultramodern fishing camps, motels, service stations and restaurants to
cater to the ever-increasing business.
Because of its name, Astor will always be associated with the Astor
clan. But its history is incomplete without the dramatic story of its
original owner, Moses Levy. Moses' father was at one time a high-
ranking aide to the Sultan of Morocco but fled to Gibraltar following
the Sultan's downfall. Here Moses was reared. In his early twenties,
he immigrated to St. Thomas Island, where he married. David Levy was
born June 12, 1810. (It is said that David Levy adopted the family
Moorish title "Yulee" when he became Florida's first Senator after
statehood, though it took a special act of the Florida Legislature.)
When David was six, Moses moved to Havana where he amassed a
considerable fortune in the lumber business. While there he learned
of negotiations for the purchase of Florida from Spain. He visualized
the brilliant future for so promising a country and dreamed of a refuge
and religious community for his oppressed people.
With this in mind, he visited the United States in 1819, placed his
two sons in college, later obtained American citizenship and purchased
large tracts of land, including a part of the Arrendondo Spanish Land
Grant in Alachua and what is now Lake County.
In 1822 he built a plantation home called Hope Hill at the then present
day Astor. He raised sugar cane (said to be the first imported to this
country) and built a sugar processing plant. He also imported fruits
and seeds from Southern France and cultivated them.
He made several trips to Europe to induce oppressed Jews and others
to settle on his lands, and only a few came. But the project soon
failed, because the land was too wild and inhospitable for people
accustomed only to the cities of the Old World.
With the destruction of his plantations during the Seminole War, and
beset with litigation in connection with his many land purchases,
Moses finally gave up and went to Virginia, where he died in 1854.
Although these two outstanding men, Moses Levy and William Astor,
failed to make a thriving port and city out of Astor during their
lifetimes, they helped to plant the seeds of tourism in that area,
as well as in the rest of the state.
