PALM COAST, Fla. (October 28, 2023) – History can often be seen as a dusty hobby. One based around years of quiet research and information collection, sitting on a shelf.
Since taking a leadership role with the Palm Coast Historical Society and Museum, Kathy Reichard-Ellavsky has been part of a dynamic turnaround for the record keeping organization. Working closely with past president and current historian Elaine Studnicki, the two have revitalized the organization over the last several years and recruited others to help create an exciting synergy that’s drawing the public through the doors of the tiny museum.
Hosting the annual Founder’s Day event to commemorate Palm Coast’s anniversary, not the official incorporation in 1999, but the inception of the planned community, hundreds attended the celebration on Saturday in Holland Park.
Featuring organizations with a longstanding history in Flagler County, it was a who’s who of community anchor clubs and organizations offering a look at where they’ve come from and where they’re going.
Among those in attendance were The Garden Club at Palm Coast, Flagler County Cultural Council, Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center, African American Cultural Society, Friends of A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway, Inc., Heritage Crossroads: Miles of History, Kings Road Historic District, Friends of the Library of Flagler County, Inc., Genealogy Society of Flagler County and more.
Reichard-Ellavsky’s enthusiasm was contagious, and the event ushers in a robust schedule of events for the Palm Coast Historical Society.
“We decided to have a 10th anniversary celebration of the opening of the museum in Holland Park, in order to bring people to us,” she said. “Most people in Palm Coast don’t know that we have a historical society and they don’t know that we have a museum.”
Referencing plantations on the land, destroyed in the 1800s during the Second Seminole War, turpentine communities of the 1900s, and city of today, Palm Coast and Flagler County have a rich, diverse history waiting to be discovered through the History Academy developed in 2022 to educate residents.
“I’m hoping Palm Coast will help to preserve its uniqueness. Just because we’re only 50+ years old doesn’t mean that historic things didn’t happen here well before ITT arrived in the 1970’s,” said Reichard-Ellavsky.
Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin praised the historical society’s willingness to innovate and capture the attention of the younger generation with their programming. Palm Coast City Manager Denise Bevan joined city staff on site educating attendees about the current “Imagine 2050 City on the Rise” campaign and survey underway.
“What’s important about today is that we have an opportunity to actually plant some roots in the community because as I mentioned, we’re a young city. History is vitally important and something we can pass forward. As we grow and try to romance a younger demographic, a younger resident to come here we want to be able to tell them about the fine roots that have built this Palm Coast city,” said Alfin, as the signature song from The Beatles ‘Here Comes the Sun’ played in the background.
Noting the collaboration between the City of Palm Coast and Flagler County to showcase the area’s history and culture, Flagler County Commission Chairman Greg Hansen is looking forward to a continued progress.
“It’s critical that we work together and it’s really fortunate that Mayor Alfin and I have become good friends because we talk about everything together,” said Hansen. “It’s going to be our combined effort that’s going to make Flagler County and Palm Coast greater. It’s already great, greater. I think Mayor Alfin says all the time, ‘together we can do it better’, so that’s just a fact.”
To view the upcoming schedule of events and speakers, visit www.palmcoasthistory.org.
