By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent DEBARY, Fla. — Outside of the river town that now bears his name is the former hunting lodge of Samuel Frederick deBary, a wealthy German baron who was a Mumm’s Champagne importer.
His main residence was in New York, but he visited the Brock House in Enterprise, Fla., during the 1850s searching for a place to build a hunting lodge. He inquired about land and eventually purchased three parcels in 1871 from Oliver and Amanda Arnett.
The amazing house was built from cedar in 1871, with an addition in 1880. The hunting lodge became an established orange grove plantation and site of a commercial steamboat operation. As described on the Volusia County History website http://volusiahistory.com/fredDeBary.htm “DeBary Hall is an impressive antebellum mansion designed for entertainment in the grand tradition.
“It even contained the first swimming pool in Volusia County. The mansion featured 20 rooms, hand-blown glass windows and hand-carved cornices. All seven bedrooms had their own fireplace.”
A brilliant man, deBary was quite innovative when building his winter home, long before the modern “green” movement. The house had its own steam-powered pump for the water system that conserved and reused trapped rain water.
“It would be pumped from the cistern up to a 500-gallon holding tank in the top of the house,” William Hamilton, guide at deBary Hall, explained.
Wealthy from the wine import business, this hunting lodge became a working farm. “He came here on vacation, and started several enterprises,” Hamilton said. “He started growing oranges from here to the St. John’s River, which is about a mile. About 25 percent of the (nation’s) oranges were grown by this plantation at that time.”
Once the orange grove was established, deBary harvested them, then shipped oranges on Brock’s ships. With the St. John’s River right outside his doorstep, deBary decided to ship his own oranges to market. Hamilton noted, “He eventually owned 900 acres.”
DeBary built a storage facility by the water and large docks for his shipping company. At this time the St. John’s River was primarily for logging and to protect the hull of his ships, deBary added an iron bottom.
The Volusia County History website stated, “Frederick deBary also became a shipping mogul, owning the side-wheeler George M. Bird and steamers Fred DeBary, Carrie and City of Sanford. All ships made regular runs through the east coast on the St. Johns and Halifax Rivers.”
DeBary had to adjust his growing methods in December 1894. “There was a cold snap, then two weeks later, there was a hard freeze in January of 1895,” William said.
After the orange trees died, deBary cut them down and grew celery, tobacco and planted pecan trees. Although a working plantation, the primary reason for deBary Hall was relaxation. DeBary had lost his wife, but he and his family enjoyed hunting and wintering at the plantation. He came south for winters until his death in 1898.
DeBary’s granddaughter Leonie, an avid pilot, was particularly fond of the house and responsible for many of the updates until she died in an airplane crash in 1941. By that time, the retreat had grown to more than 6,000 acres with many outbuildings.
One outbuilding, the Carriage House, today provides space to host meetings, receptions and other gatherings for the community. On the side of the house visitors can view an unusual hunting carriage.
DeBary Hall Historical Site is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, and noon-4 p.m. Sundays.
If you will be traveling and want to learn more, write to: 210 Sunrise Boulevard DeBary, FL 32713, call 386-668-3840 or 386-736-5953 or log onto http://deBaryhall.com/planning.htm |
