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Sanford was once the celery capital of the world. Seriously. Walking the bricked downtown, I easily picture this environment rife with celery farms, with a small railroad running stalks and stalks to Orlando, Tampa, and points beyond. Celery, actually, was Sanford’s second crop — at one point, this small(ish) city grew more than 140 varieties of citrus until a freeze in the winter of 1895 destroyed the crops. The town used the artesian wells literally popping up all over the place to turn from orange riches to green.

Celery City

The celery legacy remains in town — Celery City Craft serves local brews, subdivisions have names like “Celery Park Estates” and “Celery Cove” and, in the not-so-distant past, the town crowned a celery king and queen, and the ceremony surrounding the coronation included a Celery Masquerade Ball and the annual performance of Celery Soup. Ask a local as you stroll down East First...

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