The City of Holly Hill is hosting the party on Saturday, Oct. 10. That means the stage, the DJ, the beer garden and an 8 p.m. drone show over the Halifax River at Sunrise Park. Most of the history you can see that day exists because people outside City Hall worked to keep it. One couple gave away a building. A retired city employee offered $50,000. A volunteer society runs the museum where the time-capsule items will be shown. Those details are what set Holly Hill's anniversary apart from any other town's drone show.
A town that began with residents and a vote over hogs
Holly Hill has been run by its residents from the start. The city's official history says hogs getting into residents' gardens pushed the town to incorporate. On July 2, 1901, thirty-one residents voted at Cave's Cigar Factory to form the Town of Holly Hill. Frank "Vet" Cave, who owned that cigar factory north of Delaware Street, became the first mayor. The first council was I. M. Mabbett, A. H. Carter, W. A. McBride, Lotan Cave and A. E. Mason. The same history says early town leaders had trouble stopping people from cutting down the holly trees, and arrests for it became "fairly numerous."
The sources don't agree on the exact birthday. The city gives July 2, 1901, as the vote date. The Holly Hill Historic Preservation Society says the original handwritten city minutes date incorporation to July 1, 1901. Either way, the town was 125 years old this summer, and the city saved the big celebration for October.
Even the planning was shared. In February, the city scheduled a public workshop with the Historic Society about the 125th anniversary. It ran from 5 to 6 p.m. on Feb. 10 in the City Hall Commission Chambers. City Hall itself is a landmark. Construction started in 1940, and the building was dedicated on Labor Day 1942, according to a News-Journal photo gallery published Sept. 16.
The schoolhouse that spent years listed as a shed
The biggest change to Holly Hill's history scene this year happened in May, five months before the party.
A one-room schoolhouse first opened at the corner of Sixth Street and Daytona Avenue. As the neighborhood grew up around it, the building ended up classified as a shed. Before the move, it sat on private residential property on Sixth Street, next to the Dollar General. Its owners, Jake and Skyler Rumanek, donated it. On Thursday, May 21, it was moved to the Holly Hill History Museum, according to Dean Wiggins, the Historic Preservation Society's director and a board member.
Nobody is sure exactly how old it is. Hometown News Volusia reported it was built in 1885 and called it the oldest known schoolhouse in Volusia County and the second-oldest in Florida, after one in St. Augustine. The Daytona Beach News-Journal's February story described it as believed to date to 1897. Either date makes it older than the town that grew up around it.
The money came from people, too. According to the News-Journal's February story, retired city employee Chuck Heinmiller had offered $50,000 late the previous year to help move the house and start the renovation. Society president Polly Cappuccio, who began the effort in mid-2024, hired T.A. Youngblood Building Movers of Sanford to haul it six blocks to the Sica Hall property. She put the full project at about $75,000 and kept raising money. After the move, the Society said more than $50,000 had been raised for the relocation and that it is still taking donations to restore the building and get it ready for the public.
Some original features survived its years as a shed, including a bookshelf and a small closet where students once kept coats and lunches. The Society plans to add an ADA-accessible ramp, period desks, books and teaching materials, and eventually children's programs and guided tours. Restoration is still in progress, and the city's Oct. 10 schedule doesn't list the schoolhouse as part of the program. If you stop by the museum that afternoon, you'll see a project in progress, not a finished exhibit.
Saturday, Oct. 10, in the order it happens
The day starts at noon with the time-capsule opening, and the published sources disagree on where. Hometown News Volusia's community notes for the week of Oct. 2 put it at the gazebo outside Pictona at Holly Hill, 1060 Ridgewood Ave. The city's event page on Ticket Tailor lists it at the Holly Hill History Museum. Check hollyhillevents.org before you head out. The two locations are both in the city's downtown cluster, so a wrong guess won't cost you much.
| Time | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 12 p.m. | Time-capsule opening | Pictona gazebo or History Museum, see above |
| 2 to 4 p.m. | Time-capsule items on display | Holly Hill History Museum, 1065 Daytona Ave. |
| 4 to 6 p.m. | DJ Vito opens the block party | Sunrise Park, 1135 Riverside Dr. |
| 6 to 7:45 p.m. | The Fabulous B Naturals | Sunrise Park |
| 8 p.m. | Drone show | Over the Halifax, from Sunrise Park |
The block party is free, and you don't need a ticket. The Ticket Tailor page is there for information only. The city's listing has the party running until 8:30 p.m., while Hometown News lists 4 to 8 p.m. Both put the drone show at 8. The city describes The Fabulous B Naturals as a longtime local favorite that plays pop, rock, Motown and dance hits from across the decades.
Food trucks, a beer garden and kids' activities run the whole time. Bring lawn chairs or blankets, and a valid ID if you plan to buy a drink. Riverside Drive will be closed from 10th to 12th streets during the event. Parking is available on Riverside between 10th and 12th, at City Hall, Sica Hall, the YMCA and other public lots nearby, and signs will point the way.
Sunrise Park sits on a stretch of Riverside Drive with a long commercial past. The News-Journal gallery includes a 1930s photo of the Holly Hill Garage and other Riverside Drive businesses near where the park is today.
Where the museum fits into the afternoon
The 2-to-4 p.m. window at the museum is the best chance to see the volunteer side of the anniversary up close. The Holly Hill History Museum is at Sica Hall, 1065 Daytona Ave., and is normally open noon to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. It's operated by the Holly Hill Historic Preservation Society, Inc. The Society is a nonprofit founded in 2006, and Polly Cappuccio is its president. Hometown News reported in 2024 that the volunteer-created museum first opened in 2012 and was moving to Sica Hall.
The Society's own history goes back further than incorporation. It traces settlement to William and Mary Fleming's purchase of the Fitch land grant in June 1875, and says William Fleming recruited settlers in Philadelphia in the summer of 1876. So the schoolhouse, the incorporation vote and the time capsule all fall inside a story the Society has been piecing together for two decades.
Little has been published about the capsule itself. The sources we found don't say who sealed it, when or what's inside. On Oct. 10, everyone will be seeing it for the first time, including us.
The rest of the birthday month
The city's calendar has events on both sides of the block party, and one of them also sends money back into the community.
- National Night Out, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. On the City Hall front lawn, 1065 Ridgewood Ave., with police and fire vehicles, a DJ, kids' activities, bounce houses and free hot dogs and snacks while they last.
- Tony's 10th Annual Cruisin' the Hill Car Show, Saturday, Oct. 17, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. At City Hall. It's free for spectators and $10 to enter a vehicle, proceeds benefit The Holly Hill School, and this year adds a bicycle showcase.
- O-Town Motown at Pictona at Holly Hill, Friday, Nov. 13, 7 to 9 p.m. The city says the show is returning by popular demand. Tickets are through hollyhillevents.org.
One more resident-built project is on the way. Alyssa Allred, who has run the Double Dippin birria food truck for four years, is preparing her first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Holly Hill and is aiming to open by the end of 2026, the News-Journal reported in July.
If you'd like to help with the schoolhouse after the party, the Historic Preservation Society takes restoration donations through its website, hollyhillhistoricsociety.com.
Our team at Wendy Schwoerer has followed Volusia County's small cities for a long time, and we're happy to see Holly Hill celebrate this milestone. If you own an older Holly Hill home and wonder what its history means for upkeep or for a future sale, contact us. We'll walk you through it without any pressure.
