The town began in the 1870s, when Mathias Day laid out a community on the former Williams Orange Plantation along the Halifax River. Henry Flagler's railroad reached the coast in the 1890s, and the resort grew; in 1926 Daytona, Daytona Beach, and Seabreeze consolidated into the City of Daytona Beach. Through it all the draw was the same: a uniquely wide, flat, hard-packed beach — firm enough that, to this day, you can still drive a car on the sand.
Our Daytona Beach logo carries Florida's alligator over "Florida Territory · Est. 1845," the year Florida joined the Union as the twenty-seventh state — the shared emblem of every Merlin Classics Florida place. Printed black-and-white with the worn look of an old crate stamp or woodcut, the gator reads as wild, sun-bleached Florida. What makes this one Daytona is the story behind it — the most famous beach, and the birthplace of speed.
Why People Visit Daytona Beach
Daytona Beach offers iconic Florida seaside fun with a layer of vintage-speed history beneath the sand. Visitors split their time between the beach, the boardwalk, the river parks, and the area's world-famous racing heritage. It's lively, nostalgic, and welcoming — a Fun Coast classic that pairs natural beauty with easy beach-town culture.
