Cassadaga: Florida’s Oldest Spiritual Community in the South

When walking through this quaint Victorian town of Cassadaga, it’s difficult to not admire its historic wood-framed vernacular buildings and its old streets lined with century-old oak trees. Cassadaga is located in the pristine “lake and hill” country of Central Florida in Volusia County. Many of its Victorian dwellings date to Cassadaga’s inception in 1894, when George P. Colby donated thirty-five acres to the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Meeting Association. In 1991, Cassadaga was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1875, George P. Colby, instructed by his Indian spirit guide Seneca, was advised to head south to establish a community where thousands of believers could assemble. Colby set off to Florida traveling south on the Saint Johns River, arriving at Blue Springs, Florida located in Volusia County. The following morning Colby, in a trance-like state, was led by his spirit guide through uncharted woods where the spiritualist community would later be settled. Seneca had prophesied a utopian land of lakes and bluffs during a séance in Lake Mills, Iowa. It was the seventy-five acre tract of land, for which Colby would later file a homestead claim in 1880, that would become home to southern Spiritualists. At the time, Florida was hardly much more than a frontier swamp land with old overgrown military roads from the previous Seminole Indian Wars that were still barely passable. Seeking a warmer location in Florida would not only be a bit daunting due to its flora, but also because of its southern religious conservatism.

“Spiritualists who found themselves ‘marginalized’ in their native north might have expected to harmonize even less with southern religious culture, which was dominated by Christian evangelicalism and fundamentalism,” wrote John J. Guthrie in his chapter entitled “Seeking the Sweet Spirit of Harmony” from Cassadaga: The South's Oldest Spiritualist Community. Guthrie continues, “Yet despite their unorthodox faith, they [the Spiritualists] were steeped in a set of Protestant American traditions that ranged from capitalism to republicanism.” On January 29, 1893, Harrison Barrett, the future president of the National Spiritual Association of Lily Dale, New York, announced a meeting in DeLeon Springs, Florida. Thus, in February of 1893, a crowd of almost 600 people gathered for the Sunday meeting in DeLeon Springs.

Many came solely for the peculiarity of the event, wondering what Spiritualism entailed. In fact, Guthrie noted that even “a correspondent for The Record, went to investigate the authenticity of Dr. W.S. Rowley, a ‘spirit telegrapher’ from Cleveland. Using an ordinary battery with a Morse Key sounder, Rowley gave one of the ‘most remarkable demonstrations ever witnessed in a public assembly.’ According to the journalist, unseen operators ticked off long messages from the spirit world without Rowley’s hands ever touching the keys.” Speeches were given by George Colby himself, as well as many others, including A.B. Clyde, “the great silver-tongued orator from Ohio.”

Interest and serious settlement in sunny Florida did not abate. The Spiritualist Association was appointed by a commission to select a central terminal for the new winter camp. Cities such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs and St Augustine where investigated by representatives. Civic leaders in DeLeon Springs had offered the Spiritualists the same tolerance, twenty-five acres of land, and a two-hundred-room brick hotel, so that they would locate the spiritualist camp within the city limits. Only after all possible options were considered, did George Colby suggest that the committee visit his property. Two women, mediums Emma J. Huff and Marion Skidmere, were the only ones who accepted Colby’s invitation to visit his site in Florida. Both women were responsible for founding the Lily Dale Spiritualist congregation in New York. It must be noted that “Spiritualism,” a term coined by Horace Greeley, would offer women a distinguished opportunity to “acquire a public position in religious life.” In fact, the majority of mediums of the 19th Century were women, and women still dominate the field. The two female mediums, Huff and Skidmere would also play a crucial role in founding Cassadaga. Colby’s site made a great impression on them and in March of 1894, it was chosen by the committee. The winter camp in Florida would be named Cassadaga (a Seneca word meaning "Water beneath the rocks") in honor of its sister camp in Cassadaga, New York.

In order to fully understand Spiritualism’s beginnings, we must understand the changes that occurred during the antebellum period of United States. The catalyst behind Mormonism was started in the 1820’s by Joseph Smith who claimed special contact with the spiritual realm and gathered followers who considered him a prophet. There was the establishment of John Humphreys’ ‘free love ideology’ and community at Oneida, and William Miller’s prophecies of the end of the world in 1843. New sciences of memorization and phrenology were the proponents of modern spiritualism. In 1849, the Fox sisters claimed to have summoned spirits which attracted attention from Quakers and other seeking reconnection with their dead loved ones. Eventually they were inundated with the likes of P.T. Barnum, who cordially invited them to display their mediumship at his hotel during the summer of 1850. Horace Greely endorsed the Fox sisters and wrote about their rappings (telegraphic communication with the dead) in his newspaper.

However, with great sensationalized national attention would later result in mere controversy. In 1888, Margret Fox (of the Fox sisters) would later confess that the strange rappings heard in early séances had been a hoax. However, she withdrew her statement the following year. The reputations of the sisters were ruined and within five years, all three Fox sisters were dead. Historian Ann Braud purported that “once mediumship demonstrated a potential for monetary gain, ‘fraudulent mediums imposed themselves on the public, and some indeed profited from deception.’”Bret E. Carroll in his A Historic Overview of American Spiritualism claimed, “Within a short time, such literary luminaries as James Fenimore Cooper, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Harriet Beecher Stowe were investigating séances.”

During the late 1840’s, a shoemaker by the name of Andrew Jackson Davis was used as a subject in a hypnosis experiment for William Levingston, an early predecessor of hypnosis. While in a trance, Davis began recounting clairvoyant visions and unconventional medical remedies. Davis and Levingston began traveling together garnering a large following all over New England. By 1844, Davis was claiming wisdom from the spirits such as the ancient physician Galen and the 18th Century Swedish scientist, turned mystic, named Emanuel Swedenborg.

Spiritualism owes some of its influence to French Socialist Charles Fourier, who suggested that social and spiritual harmony could be obtained through reorganizing human society into small commonalities based on natural laws of attraction. In the United States during the 1840’s and 50’s, followers formed phalanxes applying his principals, though most would be short lived communities.

Today, local mediums own the buildings at Cassadaga, but the land is owned by the Association managed by a board of directors. Lease agreements were arranged in 1895 to insure the town’s building integrity. One can make appointments with more than two dozen different Reiki doctors, mediums, psychics and spiritual healers whose phone numbers are available at the Camp Bookstore (Andrew Jackson Davis Educational Building circa 1905). At Cassadaga, one can also make reservation for the Encounter Sprits Tour or the Nighttime Orb Photography Tour. Make sure you bring your digital camera for the latter event. Candle light healing services take place on the second Friday of each month at the Colby Memorial Temple, or one can attend a Sunday service that recognizes all religious sectors.

The town is filled with historic framed vernacular and stick-styled homes that radiate energy, and you will see many psychics sitting on their front porches drinking lemonade and sipping herbal tea. Some of the historical landmarks in the town include Brigham Hall built by Fred Brigham in 1897, Harmony Hall circa 1897, a frame vernacular building once used as a boarding home, and George Colby’s home built in 1895, which is of a gothic style, also donning a distinct crossed gabled roof.

There are a plethora of historic homes on the northeast side of Cassadaga that were built around 1895-1899. Most of Cassadaga’s architecture is located within the community, and dates from about 1895-1927. All residences are occupied by working mediums or psychics. One mile to the north of the city in Lake Helen, you will find a beautiful array of homes boasting the following architectural styles: Queen Anne Victorian, Colonial Revival, Folk Victorian and stick style. Many of these homes date back to the early 1880’s.

Landmarks and private historic homes in Lake Helen/Cassadaga
Anne Steven’s House/Clauser's Bed & Breakfast circa 1895
Harmony Hall (1150 Stevens St.) circa 1897
Brigham Hall (1145 Stevens St.) circa 1897
S.J. Andrews House (306 N. Lakeview Ave.) circa 1888
John Mills House (294 N. Lakeview Ave.) circa 1885
Clinton Gunby House (272 W. New York Ave.) circa 1885
Frank and Edwin Stoops/McGill House (340 W. New York Ave.) circa 1896
John Porter Mace House (214 S. Euclid Ave.) circa 1886
Ellis Blake House (186 S. Euclid Ave.) circa 1894
Idylwild Cottage (225 W. Garden St.) circa 1887
First Congregational (Church 107 S. Euclid Ave.) circa 1889
Blake Memorial Baptist Church (134 N. Euclid Ave.) circa 1894
Gould House (176 N. Euclid Ave.) circa 1888
Franklin Nettleton House (212 N. Euclid Ave.) circa 1894
Willard Hopkins House (226 N. Euclid Ave.) circa 1890
Thaniel Snover (N. Euclid Ave.) House circa 1893
Hopkins Hall (192 W. Connecticut Ave.) circa 1897
Residence (212 S. Lakeview Ave.) circa 1888


Bibliography
Lake Helen and Historical Trails, by Steve Rajtar and John Stephen Hess (1999)
Cassadaga The South’s Oldest Spiritualist Community, by John J. Guthrie, Jr., Phillip Charles Lucas, & Gary Monroe, Inc.(University Press of Florida 2000)