This
heavily forested 29 +/- acre site is located on the north side of Lake
Monroe in the City of DeBary, and situated less than a mile west of
the intersection of I-4 and Dirksen Road. The property consists of a
series of lots within the Plantation Estates subdivision, an
antiquated, platted subdivision. A large utility power line easement
bisects the property.
Two main habitats, Upland
Mixed Forest and Floodplain Forest, dominate this property. The
tree-dominated habitats on the property are greatly intertwined and
not easily distinguished. Cabbage palm, live, laurel, and water oaks,
red cedar and southern magnolia dominate the Upland Mixed Forest.
Understory vegetation is generally sparse. Saw palmetto, coral ardisia,
bracken fern and southern shield fern are found in the understory. The
Floodplain Forest is dominated by cabbage palm, laurel oak and
American elm. Understory species include buttonbush, netted chain
fern, Virginia chain and elderberry.
This property
was once part of 6,000+ acres that comprised the DeBary family estate
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early photographs of the
estate depict the subject property in the vicinity of the “house
grove”, one of several citrus groves owned by the family. After the
death of the last DeBary family member in 1941, a significant portion
of the estate, including the subject property, was sold to the
developer of Plantation Estates Subdivision, the first substantial
residential subdivision in what now is the City of DeBary. To date, no
evidence has been recovered to indicate that the DeBary family ever
erected any structures on the subject property.
