The Ormond Beach Historical Society is the only private, nonprofit organization working to preserve and share the rich history of Ormond Beach. The organization was formed in 1976 as the Ormond Beach Historical Trust. The Trust’s first major project was to save The Casements, purchased by John D. Rockefeller in 1918, and his winter home until his death in 1937. The Casements, which had deteriorated considerably, had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and was purchased by the city of Ormond Beach in 1973 for $500,000. The Historical Trust worked with the city to obtain a federal grant of $449,000 for restoration, and set up a Casements Foundation Fund for additional capital expenses. Today, The Casements serves as the city’s cultural center. Since then, we’ve gone on to preserve and promote some of the most significant historical sites and structures in Ormond Beach, including the Indian Burial Mound (c. 800) located on South Beach Street across from Ames Park, the Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Church (c. 1879) in Bailey Riverbridge Gardens Park, the Hotel Ormond Cupola (c. 1887) in Fortunato Park, the Anderson-Price Memorial Building (c. 1915) at 42 North Beach Street, the Three Chimneys Sugar Mill Ruins (c. 1768) at 715 West Granada Boulevard and the WW II Watchtower (c.1942), on Highway A1A, 4.3 miles north of Granada Boulevard. The Anderson-Price Memorial Building was acquired in 2002 from the Ormond Beach Woman’s Club. The historic building is used for lectures and presentations, plays, and other social events. It has helped our organization achieve a higher visibility in Ormond Beach and the surrounding area. The facility is available to rent for special occasions. We changed our name to Ormond Beach Historical Society in late 2008 in part to reflect our evolution to an organization that provides more programs and events for the public. The society administers the Ormond Beach Welcome Center at the MacDonald House, 38 East Granada Boulevard. Stop by to see our historical DVDs and photos, local event schedules, brochures and maps, and browse our merchandise shop. We are very grateful to the Florida Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities for supporting us with the CARES Act Grant + the Additional CARES Act Grant. These grants provided us the opportunity to pay bills for the insurance (six months), the bookkeeper (six months) and the 10-hr position Administrative Assistant from October through February (five months). Without their support, we could not have operated smoothly through the challenging time of COVID-19. From ALL of us: sincere THANK YOU to the Florida Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Humanities!
