Sanford, Florida is a scenic lakefront retirement community and senior vacation area.

Sanford FL History

The Timucua Indians lived on the shores of Lake Monroe as early as 2000 B.C. until war and disease decimated the tribe in the 1760’s. They were replaced by the Seminole Indians who came from Alabama and Georgia.

In 1817, Philip R. Younge received a Spanish land grant. Two years later, the United States acquired Florida from Spain. In 1834, the Younge land grant became the Moses E. Levy grant.

From 1835 to 1842, the Second Seminole War was fought. Camp Monroe was established in 1836 on Lake Monroe near a trading post. The army garrison was built because the Seminoles had destroyed a major port connecting Central Florida to the East Coast. Captain Charles Mellon was killed on February 8, 1837 during an engagement with the Seminoles at Camp Monroe. He was the sole American casualty and the camp was renamed Fort Mellon in his honor. At the war’s end in 1842, Camp Mellon was closed.

The town of "Mellonville" was founded around Fort Mellon in 1840. In 1870, General Henry Shelton Sanford bought 12,548 acres to the west of Mellonville and laid out the community of "Sanford." The land was part of the original Levy land grant. He recruited a colony of Swedes who came in 1871 to settle and work the area orange groves. Incorporated in 1877 with a population of 100, Sanford absorbed Mellonville in 1883.

Sanford Florida – Lakefront Retirement Community

Today, Sanford Florida is a growing senior vacation area and retirement community located at Lake Monroe.