DeLand, FL – Stetson Mansion is honored to have been named as one of the top Historic Holiday Homes Tours for two reader’s choice awards! Stetson Mansion was chosen as Florida’s winner in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers Choice travel award contest for Best Holiday Historic Home Tour – placing third on the national list.
Florida’s Most Historic Home was also named as the second-place winner in Fodor’sTravel Guide to Southern Holiday Homes and is the top tour in the state! They hope to earn those pre-pandemic honors again this year when they open Nov 1st for “A Decade of Christmas Joy.”
Located in DeLand in West Volusia, this year’s “Christmas Spectacular!” journey through Stetson Mansion features 23 Christmas trees, over two dozen Nativity scenes, several peacocks – a nod to Stetson’s love of the birds – and 10 elaborate themed rooms. Decorations change every year. Room themes this year include “Angels Appear When Cardinals Are Near,” “A Rockwell Kind of Christmas,” “Heroes Tribute,” “Snow Babies... It’s Cold Outside,” and “Hallelujah, The Christ Child Is Born.”
“It was such an honor for us to be recognized as one of the best holiday historic home tours for two years in a row,” said Michael Solari, Co-owner of Stetson Mansion. “For three months, co-owner JT Thompson -- with only the help of one guide, JoAnn Heinle -- labor to transform this home into the bedecked wonderland you will see, all to help honor Jesus, John B. Stetson, and the visitors we hope to bring some holiday joy to.”
The Christmas Spectacular at Stetson Mansion will offer 7 self-guided tour times daily from Nov 1 through January 22, 2022. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED. It is expected to bring more than $3 million to the West Volusia economy. For more information and booking Stetson Mansion tours, please visit StetsonMansion.com.
Background
Stetson Mansion, known as the “House That Hats Built,” was the home of John B. Stetson – Florida’s first “snowbird” – who left an amazing cultural legacy beyond the world’s most famous hat. Stetson was known for giving back to the community and donating generously to charities, as well as for being a progressive employer. He had a specific affinity for DeLand and made it his family’s winter home. He became the main benefactor for the state’s first private university – named Stetson University in 1889; and brought electricity to DeLand, making it the first area in Florida with electric streetlights. One of the first sets of Edison Electric Christmas tree lights hung on Stetson’s tree. The Stetson Mansion is the first and only “Gilded Age” mansion in Florida and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.