One of the nicest things about Highland Park Fish Camp is proximity to downtown DeLand, just 4 miles away.   DeLand is one of the state’s small town treasures. DeLand is the county seat as well as a college town, with Stetson University’s campus classified as a National Historic District. Visitors enjoy notable gift shops and quaint restaurants.

Founded in 1876 by Henry DeLand, the City is proud of its unique heritage and is rich in history and culture.  DeLand delights visitors with all the possibilities and hospitality a small Southern town can offer. Volusia County has over 400 years of history.  Early Native Americans, explorers from Spain, colonists from France, and settlers from England have left their mark on Florida.

The earliest occupants of what we know now as the City DeLand left little record and for untold ages lived and died here prior to the coming of the Europeans.  They left immense mounds full of oyster shells, pieces of pottery, and weapons of war, bones and articles of domestic use. 

The pioneers were self-sufficient.  They raised their own food, made their own clothes; they carved their homes out of the Florida hammock.  They stayed close to their homes and made their own entertainment.  

The area now known as DeLand was once called Persimmon Hollow.  Wild persimmons used to grow in this area in abundance.  After the end of the Civil War, each year brought increasing numbers of pioneers seeking to build a future for themselves.