DeBary Hall Historic Site

Once the retreat of millionaires, this public site now offers a window on St. Johns River stories. DeBary Hall was the winter retreat of a European-born wine merchant who chose the St. Johns River country for his hunting estate. Beginning in the 1870s, New Yorker Frederick deBary acquired lands near Lake Monroe, built a large vacation house, and tried his hand at orange growing and commercial steamboating. He completed his hunting lodge in 1871.

DeBary Hall was the winter retreat of a European-born wine merchant who chose the St. Johns River country for his hunting estate.