17 January 2023, Southern Camping Day 12

 Tomoka State Park

Ormond Beach, Florida

Marc-  I awoke to a Park e-mail indicating that we were checking out today...  oops.  I then met with the Park Ranger who explained that we needed to move to another site for the remainder of our stay.  I also verified our future reservations in his system and found that we were missing a day.  Not a problem since the Park has five available sites for that day but we will need to change sites again.  Sue and I went for a beautiful forest hike before any more changes could be made.  The Park was once an Indigo Plantation while it was a Spanish possession.  The forest has taken back almost all signs of any plantation.

We explored the beaches from Ormond to Ponce de Leon Inlet.  Highlights were a tour of the Rockefeller winter beach home and the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse.  John D. Rockefeller lived here in winters for health reasons and to be near where his friends came to visit.  The giant Ormond Hotel was built by Henry Flagler, Rockefeller's partner in the Standard Oil business.  The Rockefeller residence was directly across the street from the hotel.  

The Rockefeller home was named "The Casements" after its casement style windows.

The home faces the intracoastal waterway with extensive gardens and a large dock. Mr. Rockefeller started each morning off with some reading.

Ormond was also home to automobile speed racing on the beach and is now known as "The Birthplace of Speed."  The racing no longer happens here.

Beach racing looking South to the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse.  One side of the course uses Route A1A.

Ponce de Leon Lighthouse is the tallest light in Florida (170 feet).  The brick walls are 8 feet thick at the bottom and 2 feet thick at the top.  The tower has a 28 foot diameter at the bottom tapering to a 16 foot diameter at the top.  The structure is in excellent repair and is very solid on a massive 12 foot deep brick foundation.  There are 203 cast iron steps to the top gallery.

View of the inlet from the top balcony.

View of the Intracoastal from the top of the lighthouse.  Note the significant sandbars.

A more detailed view of the Ponce de Leon Inlet and its passages.

Sunset back at Tomoka State Park.