Local Information

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Location

Crescent City location: located in South Putnam County by Lake Stella, Crescent Lake, Lake George, and edged by the St. Johns River. It is about an hour's drive to Palatka and St. Augustine. It is about a two hour drive to Orlando or Gainesville.

Climate & Weather

History & History Related Items

Crescent City history:

South Putnam was settled in the 1700's when English landowners established rice and indigo plantations along the shores of the St. John's River. Prior to that it was home to Native American Indian tribes that fished the river, hunted the forests and grew food crops.

Here is a history page for Crescent City.

What is now Crescent City was once part of the "Old Oliver Plantation." This was a tract of about 1,800 acres. Though populated for many years before, the area was generally settled in 1852. The first name for the area was Ellington. In 1876, Charles R. Griffing and his wife Jennie purchased the land and began C.R. Griffing & Company. The existing lake, known as Dunn's Lake at that time, was thought by Mrs. Griffing to have a crescent shape. She changed the name of the lake to Lake Crescent. In 1876, an area of the shore was surveyed and platted. The name chosen was Crescent City. Another lake on the west was named Lake Stella because it looked like a star.

The primary route for settlers was on the St. John's River by steamship from Jacksonville. Rail service to the community, inaugurated in 1886, facilitated the transport of local goods and increased traffic to the area.

The early economy was based on agriculture in the form to truck crops and citrus and tourism. Intensive advertising by Griffing's Crescent City Real Estate Company in the northeast and midwest attracted a significant number of winter residents to the shores of Crescent Lake. A movement to form a municipal government was begun in 1883, and two years later Crescent City was formally incorporated. By 1890 the population had grown to 554. The "Great Freeze" of the winter of 1894-95, however wiped out the areas citrus groves and caused many of the city's residents to abandon their holdings. During the Great Depression little in the way of new construction occurred in the city. Both the local banks failed and many residents were forced to seek relief through government sponsored programs. It was not until after WW II that Crescent City fully recovered from the affects of the depression.

Today, Crescent City remains a rural area. Occupying 2,000 acres under natural and artificial shade, this area's cut foliage is distributed around North America, supplying approximately 84% of the US cut foliage. It is also shipped overseas and is one of FL leading export commodities.

Even though Crescent City is a rural area, it is located within an hours drive to Palatka, Deland, Ocala National Forest, Daytona Beach and St. Agustine. It is within two hours drive to Orlando, Disney, Cape Canaveral, and Gainesville.

Learn more about Crescent City at Crescent City online