Halifax Historical Museum

06/12/2026

Happy Friday! We received a LARGE stack of your local Hometown News papers this morning here at the museum. We are YOUR location to pick one up your FREE copy. Come on down, grab a paper, tour the musuem, have a stroll down Beach Street.

06/11/2026

📚🌴 Florida Vistas Book Club is coming up!
Join us for our June meeting featuring local author Jeff Boyle as we discuss his book Closures - a story built around the theme that all of life’s chapters reach closures. ✨📖

🗓️ Thursday, June 18, 2026
🕑 2:00 PM
📍 Halifax Historical Museum
🎟️ Free with museum admission or membership
📞 Questions? (386) 255-6976
https://www.halifaxhistorical.org/events/florida-vistas-book-club-12/

Bring a friend and come ready for a good conversation!

06/06/2026

We had a wonderful evening hosting a reception for the Florida Historical Society's first night of their History Forum in Daytona Beach.

06/04/2026

The Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens wants to share this information:
Port Orange Museum’s 40th Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, June 6, 2026 10AM-2PM 740 Commonwealth Blvd.
View exhibits, mingle with neighbors interested in the history of Port Orange
Enjoy Professor Joe Vetter re-enacting as Dr. John Milton Hawks 11AM-Noon
Food and Beverages, Prize Raffles and 50/50 Drawing

06/02/2026

🗣️✨ Teller Talk Tuesday is TODAY at 2:00 PM!

Come hear the real behind-the-scenes story of two of Volusia County’s earliest tourist attractions: The Sea Zoo and Bongoland (now known as Sugar Mill Gardens). 🦕🌴🐠

Our speaker will be Dr. Perry A. Sperber’s son, sharing the inside scoop on where they were, when they existed, what they were like, and what happened to them. You’ll leave knowing all about these classic local attractions!

🕑 Today • 2:00 PM
📍 Halifax Historical Museum | 252 S Beach St, Daytona Beach
🎟️ Free with museum admission or membership
📞 Questions? Please give us a call at: (386) 255-6976

June 2, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - The Sea Zoo and Bongoland - hear the real, in-depth story of these two Volusia County early tourist attractions! Dr. Perry A. Sperber, MD moved his wife, daughter and son from Providence, RI to Daytona Beach to find a warmer climate. Once here, he set up his Dermatology medi...

05/27/2026

We are closing EARLY, at 2:00pm, on Thursday, May 28, in preparation for a private event.

Thank you for your understanding.

See you before or on Friday!

05/27/2026

👙🌊 Did you know? Beach days in the late 1800s were way more dangerous - because of the swimsuit.

Victorian swimwear was all about modesty… and it could be a disaster in the water:
• Wet wool suits could weigh up to 20 pounds 😳
• Women even sewed weights into skirt hems so they wouldn’t float up
• Bloomers under the skirt could fill with air like a balloon 🎈
No wonder most women didn’t learn to swim back then.

To help keep beachgoers safe, Daytona Beach installed lifelines—heavy ropes attached to poles—so women wouldn’t be pulled away by riptides. And if you wanted to fully “submerge,” you could hire a strong attendant called a bathing dipper to es**rt you into the ocean. 💪🌊

As tourism grew, swimwear slowly became lighter and safer… but then came the Bathing Suit Fashion Police in the early 1900s. Yep- suits were measured, and Daytona enforced a strict rule: no more than 6 inches above the knee. 📏😅

Fashion changes, safety changes, rules change… and believe it or not, thong suits are still against the law in 140 Florida State Parks today. 🏖️👀

What’s your favorite “old Florida” beach fact? Drop it below! 👇✨

05/22/2026

🦅⭐️Heads up for Memorial Day!

The Halifax Historical Museum will be closed on Monday (Memorial Day).

We’ll be open during our regular hours the rest of the week; hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend! 🏛️✨

05/14/2026

📚🌴 Florida Vistas Book Club is next Thursday!

If you’ve ever wondered what Florida really is beneath the postcards and headlines, this month’s read is for you. We’re discussing In the Land of Good Living: A Journey to the Heart of Florida by Kent Russell—a funny, vivid, sometimes wild “love letter” to the state he calls “America Concentrate.” 😄🐊

🗓️ Thursday, May 21, 2026
🕑 2:00 PM
📍 Halifax Historical Museum
🎟️ Free with museum admission or membership
📞 Questions? Please give us a call at: (386) 255-6976

May 21, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - In the summer of 2016, Kent Russell – broke, at loose ends, hungry for adventure – set off to walk across Florida.