Founded in 1882, the small waterfront community of Fairview took on the name of Eldora after two sisters, Ellen and Dora. Citrus crops were a mainstay.
Only fourteen miles away by boat, New Smyrna was a distribution point for shipping produce north. But a reliance on citrus would bring on the town’s demise.
Interpretive sign for Eldora VillageExplore the remnants of this Florida ghost town on two short hikes off Eldora Loop Road, a one-way drive south of the visitor center.
Both reveal different perspectives on the shoreline of the Indian River Lagoon, with fishing piers and launch points as bonuses.
Eldora Loop Road is a scenic drive in its own rightResources
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Overview
Location: Apollo Beach, Canaveral National Seashore
Length: 0.5 mile round-trip and loop
Trailhead: 28.90936, -80.81839
Address: 7611 S. Atlantic Ave, New Smyrna Beach
Fees: $25 per vehicle, receipt good for 7 days
Restrooms: At the visitor center
Land manager: National Park Service
Phone: 386-428-3384
Open sunrise to sunset. Leashed dogs permitted but not in the Eldora State House.
Directions
From Interstate 95 exit 249A for SR 44, follow SR 44 east into New Smyrna Beach for 5.2 miles to cross the causeway to the barrier island. The road will arc to the right, becoming A1A. Drive another 7 miles south to Canaveral National Seashore. Continue down the park road about 2.4 miles and turn right on Eldora Loop Road.
Hike
Eldora Loop Road swings off Apollo Beach Road as a one-way drive south. A stop at the first parking area leads to a hand launch for paddlers at its north end.
At its south end, a well-worn footpath winds through the hammock to a clearing with a picnic table and quiet fishing pier on the lagoon.
Trail to the waterfrontThis brief tenth of a mile walk puts the location of Eldora in perspective. Reliant on the river, it had many wharves.
Pilings jut from the water, visible along the shoreline where homes once stood.
Where wharfs connected town with river trafficThe next parking area is at the heart of where the village used to be. Settlers tried a variety of ways to make a living along this coast.
Beekeeping seemed a natural adjunct to the fragrant orange blossoms, yielding surplus honey for sale. Some grew vegetables as row crops or started truck farms.
Residents carved a living out of a lush coastal forestFisherman netted mullet with massive gill nets and trapped crabs. Saw palmetto berries were collected, dried, and sold in bulk.
Removed with hooks from the trees, Spanish moss was dried and sold for stuffing in pillows and mattresses.
The town grew large enough to have a post office and a school, with at least a hundred residents in the surrounding area.
The old boulevard to the waterfrontThose who invested their life savings in citrus had a rude awakening in 1895, when a hard freeze wiped out their carefully tended groves.
Within five years, the population dwindled to a handful of families, mostly those working off the land or providing guide services to visitors hunting and fishing.
Follow the path by the signStart at the Eldora State House sign for an easy walk down a once-important boulevard under the grand live oaks.
Two stops with benches offer shade before you reach the waterfront, where a fishing pier juts straight ahead into the lagoon.
Fishing pierWalk out along its length for a sweeping view of the waterway and its islands.
The white scrim of buildings on the far southwest shore is Oak Hill, home to another unit of Canaveral National Seashore, Seminole Rest.
View towards Oak HillTurning left when facing the pier brings you to the Eldora State House. In its prime in the 1920s, the home was first known as Moulton’s.
When the National Park Service took possession of this land for Canaveral National Seashore, the house had been neglected for so long that trees were growing through it.
Eldora State HouseA concerted effort towards restoration by the Friends of Canaveral National Seashore recovered this coastal gem before it collapsed.
Now housing a museum, it again commands respect along the lagoon waterfront. Through displays and artifacts, the museum unfolds the story of Eldora.
Displays and interpretation around the old fireplaceAfter a walk through the museum, resume your walk past the house to the point for a clearer view of Oak Hill on the distant shore.
The paved pathway leads behind the house to a boardwalk into a mangrove swamp. The tunnel of trees opens to reveal a tidal creek in the center.
View towards shoreline from the boardwalkAlthough the boardwalk ends, the pathway continues. Step onto the sandy path into the hammock, where coontie sprouts at the base of tall cabbage palms.
Dappled with shadows, the footpath winds through a coastal hammock and into a palm hammock. Here, the earth is softer, a grassy marsh occupying a low spot.
Hiking through the hammockGaining a little elevation, continue under the palms and beneath live oaks furry with resurrection fern and bromeliads. A glint of bright light reveals the parking area.
The loop from the Eldora State House sign to the pier and house and back around through the woods is 0.4 mile.
Emerging at the parking areaTrail Map
Explore More!
Learn more about Canaveral National Seashore
Canaveral National Seashore Canaveral National Seashore protects 58,000 acres of maritime hammocks, dunes, and coastline north of Cape Canaveral, a natural sandy cape that formed where ocean currents meet.Video
A walk through Eldora
Slideshow
See our photos from Eldora
Nearby Adventures
Eldora Hammock Trail Near the ghost town of Eldora, the Eldora Hammock Trail loops through the beauty of a lush coastal hammock, highlighting a semi-tropical understory in deep shade.
Castle Windy At Canaveral National Seashore, Castle Windy is the only trail that takes you from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian River Lagoon, a shady walk through a coastal hammock to a windswept shoreline.
Turtle Mound At Canaveral National Seashore, savor an outstanding Atlantic Coast panorama from atop 1.5 million bushels of oyster shells piled up more than a thousand years ago.
Smyrna Dunes Park At Smyrna Dunes Park, this 2.4-mile hike scenic coastal hike is largely along an accessible boardwalk, with side trips off to the sea and inlet via more rugged approaches.
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