Driveable Destinations: DeLand

Now open to visitors for holiday tours in November, December and January, the Stetson Mansion, known as “the house that hats built,” is Florida’s only Gilded Age mansion. When hatmaker Stetson built his innovative, three-story winter retreat in 1886, it had all the modern conveniences: Steam heat, indoor plumbing, electricity—installed by Thomas Alva Edison himself—and a private railway spur, thanks to Henry Flagler. The estate was purchased in 2005 by J.T. Thompson and Michael Solari and, after extensive renovation, they opened their residence to the public for holiday tours. The 10,000-square-foot Victorian manor, with a blend of Gothic, Tudor, Moorish and Polynesian details, features rare parquet wood floors and 10,000 panes of original leaded glass windows.

The historic Athens Theatre, a jewel of Italian Renaissance architecture, has been restored to look much as it did when it opened in 1922. Now the home of the Athens Theatre Company and Athens Theatre Youth Academy, the venue hosts live plays and music events.

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An Abundance of Art

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In downtown DeLand, even parking lots are adorned with art. Lot No. 2, just east of the city center, celebrates the city’s 2019 designation as Florida’s first Monarch City USA with a dozen larger-than-life butterflies on a vibrant blue background. Gazing at them from the lot’s north side is beloved bootblack Rufus Pinkney, on a mural marking the spot where Rufus’ Shoe Shine Parlor stood for nearly 40 years before he passed away in 2016 at age 84.

The city’s website at deland.org offers a downloadable guide to the DeLand Sculpture Walk, which features a dozen 3D works curated by the Museum of Art-DeLand. You’ll find 10 DeLand Butterflies throughout downtown, with their translucent wings reflecting brilliant yellow and orange onto the sidewalk, as well as functional art such as the Sunflower Whisper Bench, where you can stop and rest among oversized blooms created from steel and hand-blown glass.

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The shady Chess Park at the Courthouse Plaza is a haven for chess players, with permanent chess tables and a life-size chess board, and is a cool respite for anyone, with benches overlooking the mural, A Conversation Over Chess in 1929, and the soothing sound of the water wall fountain.

Don’t forget to look down—the 20 works in the Miniature Art Adventure, a collaboration between the city and the art museum, adorn mundane grates, pipes and steps with colorful and whimsical touches throughout the business district. Thanks to another city-museum collaboration, a dozen utility boxes throughout town are wrapped with original art.

Be sure to venture down Artisan Alley, where you’ll find the perfect selfie spot: The Wings, mural, painted in 2014 by local artist Erica Group after wings she chalked onto a door for a dress shop photo shoot went viral and the building owner requested that she paint a permanent version. Farther down the alley, another Group mural, Beer—Grain to Glass charts the Persimmon Hollow Brewing Company’s process along the side of its taproom. Get more details about these and 13 other murals, as well as a downloadable guide to the DeLand Mural Walk, at mainstreetdeland.org/mural-walk.

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