Volusia County’s enduring stories—classic works, letters, and firsthand accounts that shaped the region’s literary identity, preserved here for readers and researchers alike.
When H. P. Lovecraft died in March of 1937, the strange universe he had created was still fragile. His stories lived in pulp magazines, in scattered typescripts, and in letters exchanged with a small but devoted circle of correspondents. Much of the most important material—original manuscripts, revised drafts, and carbons—rested in DeLand, Florida, in the hands of Robert Hayward Barlow.
When H. P. Lovecraft came to DeLand, he expected a seasoned publisher. Instead, he met a gangly teenager with a small press. Together, they would make literary history.
Zora Neale Hurston was part of Daytona Beach’s waterfront community during the 1940s, when she lived at the Howard Boat Works.
Shipwrecked off the coast of Daytona and Ponce Inlet, journalist Stephen Crane rowed to shore through cold surf and immortalized the experience in this enduring American classic. The Wreck of …
