“Louis Thursby, one of the area’s first European settlers, came here with his family in 1857. He hoped that being close to the river would help him to grow wealthy, and so he built an orange grove and a pier for passing steamships. The Thursby house is preserved as it looked at the turn of the 20th century, capturing Florida in a momentous period of transition between frontier and modern state.” – www.floridastateparks.org

“Thursby House was built by Louis Thursby, who left Brooklyn to fight in the Mexican War, was discharged in California, then settled at Blue Spring in the late 1860s. He was one of the first on the upper St. Johns to establish orange groves and a steamboat landing so he could send oranges downriver. His activities attracted other orange growers to the Orange City area.” – Michael Strutin, Florida State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide, 2000

“In 1872 the Thursby family built a big frame house on the top of an ancient snail shell mound. The house and grounds have been restored to look as they did in the 1880s when oranges grew in the yard and the family sent their crops to Jacksonville by steamboat.” – Diana and Bill Gleasner, Florida: Off the Beaten Path, 2003