INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Axel Hallstrom, a Swedish botanist, meticulously cultivated fruits including pineapples, along with vegetables at his 100-acre farmstead more than a century ago. On this historic land – located adjacent to the Hallstrom House – grows a variety of native plants including sand pine scrubs, scrub oaks, live oaks, scrub hickory, dune sunflowers and saw palmettos.
Now, residents can visit the property, known as the Hallstrom Farmstead Conservation Area, to enjoy walking trails, host events at picnic pavilions, utilize an outdoor classroom and take in the sights at the wetland boardwalk. The nature preserve, along with the Hallstrom House which now operates as a museum, gives history lovers a double dose of life and culture dating back to the early 1900s in the southern part of what would later become Indian River County.
“At the time with the Flagler Railroad, there was interest for produce that would last and ship well. That was part of what was happening with citrus. They were able to plant beds and furrows of citrus,” said Beth Powell, director of Parks, Recreation and Conservation for Indian River County. “Winter vegetables were an important part of the agricultural history of Indian River County. By bringing people here, we’re able to talk about what the plant community would’ve been like, the challenges and adversities people faced.”
All five county commissioners, community leaders, historians and other dignitaries gathered for the official ribbon cutting ceremony on Dec. 20, 2024 at the Hallstrom Farmstead Conservation Area. The agricultural site is located at 1701 Old Dixie Highway Southwest, just northwest of the Hallstrom House. Attendees were able to plant pineapples and also get a tour of the nature preserve and museum.
Volunteers work day-in and day-out to seed thousands of plants and remove the non-native, invasive species at the outdoor site, which used to be an old citrus grove. Gopher tortoises roam the land, which is also home to the federally endangered Lakela’s mint plant.
A partnership between the county’s Parks, Recreation and Conservation Division and the Indian River County Historical Society allows for the upkeep and public use of the nature area.
Powell said blending the two parcels at the Hallstrom House and Farmstead Conservation Area allows people to experience the natural history and also visit the red-brick home built by Axel Hallstrom in 1909. The Hallstrom family is considered to be one of the pioneering settlers in the area.
Axel Hallstrom, his wife Emily and their daughter Ruth lived at the home, located on a 5-acre parcel. Ruth Hallstrom, who continued living at the home until her death in 1999, left the house to the Indian River County Historical Society in efforts to preserve the structure, its collections and grounds, according to historians.
The Hallstrom Farmstead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in June 2002.
In 2006, the Florida Communities Trust, a land acquisition grant program administered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, provided the county funding to purchase the Hallstrom Farmstead Conservation Area. Indian River County received a grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund Program in 2021 to build the parking area, pavilions, wetland boardwalk and trails at the Hallstrom site.
More information on the Hallstrom House and Farmstead can be found here.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
