Daytona Beach

Named "The World's Most Famous Beach" since the 1920's, Daytona Beach, Florida, located on the Atlantic Ocean, is one of very few places where you can drive a car (a 4 wheel drive not needed) on designated areas of an ocean beach.

Attracting over 8,000,000 visitors every year, and several thousand bikers during Bike Week and Biketoberfest, Daytona Beach still manages to provide high security with cameras filming the beach and hotel areas.

The Timucuan Indians lived in that area originally. The United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1821 although permanent settlement did not occur until after the Second Seminole War which was fought from 1835 to 1842.

The City of Daytona Beach, founded in 1870, was named for its founder, Matthias D. Day, who built the first hotel, the Palmetto House, in 1874. Automobile and motorcycle races began in 1902, and the first stock car race was held in 1936. The famous Daytona International Speedway replaced the beach course in 1959 when NASCAR was created and is the scene of the Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 (also called the Pepsi 400 or Firecracker 400).

Located only 10 miles south, the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse is Florida's tallest lighthouse completed in 1887 and becoming a National Historic Landmark in 1998.

The Museum of Arts and Sciences is actually a collection of galleries and museums and has one of the world's largest Coca-Cola collections.

The Daytona Cubs (a minor league baseball team) and the Daytona Beach ThunderBirds (an arena football team) call this home.