American Locations 39 - Canaveral

The trip is from New River, West Virginia, to Stinking Creek, Tennessee, by way of Long Key, Florida.

Canaveral National Seashore, Florida

Leaving Tomoka State Park, we drove south on North Beach Road into Ormond Beach, where we crossed the Halifax River to get back onto Rte. A1A. We drove south through Daytona Beach. Another nice drive along the coast. We crossed back over the Halifax River at Dunlawton Ave., then turned south on Hwy. 1. In New Smyrna Beach we crossed back over to the coast on South Causeway to South Atlantic Avenue, on which we drove south into Canaveral National Seashore. After stopping by the visitor center, we made frequent stops, to view the sound.

And birds, of course.

We turned down several lanes off the main road.

And made several stops where we could park the motor home and walk around.

We stopped by this old home that had been restored and made into a museum.

Here is a Wikipedia entry about it:

Eldora is an uninhabited place in Volusia County, Florida, United States. It is located within Canaveral National Seashore, south of Bethune Beach and west of County Road A1A. The average elevation is 3 feet above sea level.

History[edit]

Eldora was a prominent community of orange groves in the latter part of the 19th century. After a freeze destroyed most of its crops, it was nearly completely abandoned and has never regained its population.^[1]
After the death of its last resident, Doris "Doc" Leeper in 2000, a locally famous artist and conservationist in the 1980s,^[2] the management of the town was officially turned over to the federal government, and the town is now located more than two miles within the borders of the Canaveral National Seashore. The town claims no permanent residents, and visitation is limited and subject to park hours. Only two of its original buildings remain. The largest, "The Eldora House", now holds a museum.^[3] Although the town's orange groves were nearly completely wiped out over one hundred years ago, some trees still remain.
The town is also the site of two marine research facilities jointly shared by Daytona State College and the University of Central Florida.

Geography[edit]

Eldora is located at 28°54′33″N 80°49′11″W. The town's location is remote, as it is only accessible by one service road, County Road A1A. It is nearly a thirty-minute drive to the mainland through New Smyrna Beach.

The most interesting thing inside was this rock formed by fused shells.


After a short rest…


We walked around the grounds.




At another stop I took another short hike.


The sign said this was coffee beans growing wild.


Near the beach there were shell middens, like I had seen at Skidaway in Georgia.


I came upon some wild pigs. I followed them for quite a way on the trail. But they finally became aware of me and scattered into the brush. So I cut my walk short. I don't know if they were dangerous, but I know enough not to upset a mother when she is with her brood.


We parked at a beach access and relaxed on the beach for a while. The surf was calm enough here so I went in for a brief swim. Yet another advantage of traveling in a motor home - you always have a changing room available.


After we left the beach we drove to the very end of the road. From where we could see one of the enormous buildings at Kennedy Space Center.


From here we backtracked out of the national seashore and across to the mainland.

Next Location - Kennedy Space Center