Beyond Florida’s state boundaries the history of New Smyrna is seldom mentioned. Well known to the locals of New Smyrna Beach, the region’s settlement by European colonists dates to 1768 when Scottish physician Andrew Turnbull led a colonization effort to Britain’s far flung outpost in North America. After a trip to Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, Turnbull married Maria Gracia Dura Bin from Greece. While in the Mediterranean, Turnbull hatched the idea of colonizing Florida with Mediterranean folk, people from a climate similar to that of Florida and skilled in the raising of semitropical products. Turnbull immediately recruited colonists after securing financial backing for his vision and acquiring 20,000 acres of land on the Florida frontier. Most settlers who agreed to go with him were from the island of Minorca. In total, 1,403 people sailed under Turnbull’s patronage in the spring of 1768. After arriving at St. Augustine, Turnbull made the decision to settle Mosquito Inlet, establishing New Smyrna in early August.
According to eighteenth century naturalist William Bartram, New Smyrna was established on a “high shelly bluff, on the West bank of the South branch of Musquito river.” During the time of Bartram’s visit, the area was a large orange grove containing “oaks, magnolias, palms, [and] red bays.” Upon the colonists arrival, they were under contractual obligation to work for Turnbull for a number of years until they were granted their freedom; in the meantime, they were allowed to retain half of the crops they raised. Life at the plantation was not what the colonists had expected. New Smyrna had to literally be carved out of the wilderness. To give perspective on how deep into the frontier this settlement was, St. Augustine was seventy miles north of the colony. The need, then, to establish a working settlement was of the utmost importance. Until the cultivation of crops became a reality, the land would not support the settlers. The work of carving out civilization in the Florida tropics demanded hard work. Turnbull employed overseers, former British army noncommissioned officers, to keep the settlers (his investment) working. Hard days were met with a scarcity of available food. Sure, there were plenty of fish in the lagoons, but the settlers were not permitted to divert time and energy away from constructing a plantation, which was worked on seven days a week—the workers often receiving no days for rest. Those poor colonists who dared lag behind optimal productivity endured harsh punishments including floggings.