About Titusville, Florida

Birds of a feather flock together are words that ring true in Titusville: a place where nature is in harmony with the everyday world. Titusville is on the eastern coast of Florida just south of Mosquito Lagoon. The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Canaveral National Seashore separate Titusville from the Atlantic Ocean. Preserving and maintaining the fragile ecosystem and the wildlife takes top priority.

Bird Lovers Flock to Titusville

Bird lovers and their families will be flocking to Titusville this November for the 1997 Space Coast Flyway Birding Festival. This event will be the first but hopefully will become an annual festival. Birding competition and family events will be taking place throughout the area. Special celebrities at this event will include the Florida Titusville Peninsula

scrub jay, snail kite, reddish egret and many others.

Habitat Titusville

The Indian River Lagoon is the most diversified estuary in the country. The Florida manatee makes its home there along with thousands of plants and animals. The largest sea turtle nesting area is located at Canaveral National Seashore. Merritt Island is a refuge for 22 endangered or threatened species. The peregrine falcon, eastern indigo snake, Florida manatee and the gopher tortoise are a few of the wildlife that call this sanctuary home. This area is ranked eleventh in the world for Ecotourist destinations.

Titusville's Aerospace Industry

The economy of Titusville is based on the aerospace industry, tourism and a great Florida Spacecoast

citrus industry. The space industry settled upon Titusville around the 1950's and continues to grow.

Historic Titusville

Colonel Henry T. Titus founded the early settlement in 1867. Situated in Brevard County, the city of Titusville is the second largest in the county. Brevard County stretches for 75 miles along the Atlantic Coast.

One of the best-preserved aboriginal burial sites was discovered in Windover in 1982. Skeletons of men, women and children, believed to be around 8,000 years old, have been found at the site.

Juan Ponce de Leon

The Ais inhabited the area around the Indian River. Their culture centered Preparing to Sail near Titusville

on the rich marine life of the Indian and Banana rivers. Juan Ponce de Leon first met the Ais in 1513 south of Cape Canaveral. Frequent shipwrecks along the coast provided the Ais with prisoners and salvage from the ships. The reputation of the Ais was one of cruelty and competent warriors.

The cultivation of orange groves dates back to the first Spanish period. The citrus industry has been a mainstay to the economy in Florida despite natural disasters, citrus scale and infestation.

Domingo Reyes planted sugar cane and established a sugar mill a few miles north of Titusville. The second Seminole War brought destruction upon the plantation. Today the ruins of the mill can be seen at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. These are the best remains of the sugar industry in eastern Florida.

The second Seminole War increased the development of Florida including the Titusville area. The United States government promised huge land grants to volunteers who enlisted in the fight. In 1837 Ft. Ann was erected in the Titusville area. This establishment formed the original settlement of Northern Brevard County.

In the early 1890's the railroad connected to Titusville. Then there was light and they began flocking to the area. Titusville is a place where nature and the future work together in harmony and space.