New Smyrna Beach is a maker of memories. Over the years, it has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors, whose combined recollections of clean water and pure air and gentle sunshine and outstanding scenery would fill volumes.
Located at the mouth of the Ponce de Leon Inlet, the City of New Smyrna Beach serves as the gateway to the historic and picturesque Indian River Intracoastal Waterway. It also welcomes residents and visitors to 13 miles of Atlantic Coast beach with the enviable reputation of being the “World’s Safest Bathing Beach.” Stretching over 30 square miles, this expansive community is rich in history and Florida’s abundant sunshine. Often called “Florida’s Original Theme Park,” Smyrna Beach enjoys the south-side border of the pristine 57,000-acre Canaveral National Seashore Park. To the north is Smyrna Dunes Park, with its 1.5-mile boardwalk that loops around the panoramic Ponce de Leon Inlet area.
Glimpses of abundant wildlife and exquisite vistas are among the daily pleasures of residents of this beautiful community. Every imaginable water sport is popular with residents and visitors alike, since Smyrna Beach offers some of the finest surfing and fishing in the region. Flagler Avenue offers a true beach-street setting lined with swaying palms that tower above the quaint boutiques, surf shops, and restaurants. Even the historic Canal Street in downtown New Smyrna Beach is enjoying a renewal of interest in its vintage charm.
Straddling the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, New Smyrna Beach is really two towns in one. It’s part island and part inland, oceanfront and riverfront, complete with two downtowns. Luxury condos tower over “Beachside.” But “Mainland” is a historic small Southern town. Gnarled oaks draped with Spanish moss line the quiet streets. Folks relax on the wide verandas of 100-year-old clapboard foursquare homes and admire sailboats anchored on the estuary.
Though young families and teens make up much of the beach crowd, New Smyrna remains proudly connected to its past. Aqua lettering on the Little Drug Company building reminds everyone that it once housed Victoria Theater, where Gene watched Hopalong Cassidy movies for 9 cents. It now holds a soda fountain that seems straight out of “Happy Days.” That’s fitting for a town that still offers simpler, sweeter times.
On the map, Daytona Beach is a typical Florida East Coast city with a barrier island, wide beaches, and an inland town and residential area, known for its motor sports, beach racing, and the world-famous Daytona International Speedway. But this metro area starts with the name “Deltona”, one not familiar to many outside the state but actually the largest of the three cities in this metro area. Deltona is located some 25 miles inland along Interstate 4 about half way between Daytona and the booming metropolis of Orlando. Having incorporated in 1995, it serves mainly as a bedroom community for both Daytona and Orlando, with affordable housing, much of it in planned communities and developments, and a high percentage of permanent residents. It is not a tourist place, and in fact, seems to hide behind lakes and woods from touristy Orlando and from the coast.