DeBary Hall was the winter retreat of European-born Frederick deBary, a wealthy New York wine merchant who built the house in the 1870s, acquired thousands of acres, and pursued orange growing and steamboating, while his estate became especially known for sport hunting and hospitality. Relatives recalled that entertaining there was simple, with guests invited chiefly because they enjoyed outdoor activities such as swimming, hunting, and fishing. The estate also reflects broader themes including America’s romance with special Florida places, a nineteenth-century tourism and settlement boom, orange fever, and steamboating in the St. Johns valley, all tied to the river and its chain of lakes that had brought Frederick DeBary there in the first place.