ORMOND BEACH
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 10, NO. 17
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2021
Never forgotten Wreaths Across America ceremonies held in Ormond Beach PAGE 3
Church sells 42 acres The parcel sold for $6.6 million, on Williamson PAGE 2 INSIDE NEW BOUNDARIES Volusia County Council approves new redistricting map at recent meeting PAGE 4
SCENTSY BUDDIES
AdventHealth Daytona Beach receives donation of scented stuffed animals for pediatric patients PAGE 13
BENEFIT CONCERT Friends of the Ormond Beach Performing Art Center to bring John Ford Coley to town PAGE 10
BUCS FALL
On the nice list PAGE 8 Willow Harvey tells Santa and Mrs. Claus her Christmas wish list, at Holidays at The Casements.
Photo by Michele Meyers
Moments in time The Mainland High School girls basketball team could not keep up with highscoring Dr. Phillips. PAGE 11
FINISHING ON TOP
Seabreeze’s Hall finishes second in unlimited at Five Star Conference girls weightlifting championships PAGE 12
INDEX
Briefs........................... PAGE 10 Business...................... PAGE 13 Calendar...................... PAGE 10 Cops Corner..................PAGE 4 Letters...........................PAGE 6 Real Estate.................. PAGE 14 Your Town......................PAGE 6
Jordan Hobson starts ‘Then and Now’ project to capture Ormond history
JARLEENE ALMENAS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
The area around the Tomoka basin was Jordan Hobson’s stomping ground when he was growing up. It was his grandfather’s favorite place, and, over the years, Hobson has taken to exploring it as much as possible — and documenting as much of it as he can. “Not a lot is taught about local history, and we live in an area in Florida that happens to be rich — the east coast of Florida is rich in local history,” Hobson said. About four months ago, the Holly Hill resident began a “Then and Now” project where he researches local historic photographs and revisits the pictured site to capture how it stands today. He’s compiled about 15 photographs in the series so far, mainly from the Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach area.
Photo by Jarleene Almenas
At 33, Jordan Hobson is one of the youngest members of the Halifax Historical Society
It’s a labor of love for the “amateur historian,” as Hobson calls himself, and he frequently posts his photo comparisons in Facebook groups dedicated to remembering and discussing local history. In November, Hobson also decided to join the Halifax
Historical Society, and at 33 years old, he’s one of the group’s youngest members. A ‘MINI-TIME CAPSULE’
One of his favorite “Then and Now” photographs in his project is the one about the lost causeway, a sec-
tion of road in the Tomoka State Park area that, according to a 1986 Orlando Sentinel article, is believed to be a side street to King’s Road, which linked Georgia to New Smyrna Beach and was built SEE MOMENTS PAGE 5
