About Us
Welcome to the Town of Pierson! We are a small, rural town in northwestern Volusia County, nestled in central Florida between Orlando, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, and Gainesville. For more than a century, life in Pierson has centered around farming and agriculture. Most of the families who call our town home have been here for generations.
The earliest settlers came to Pierson in the mid-1800s. Commercial fishing, livestock, lumber, and citrus were the primary industries at the time. Back-to-back freezes in December 1894 and February 1895 destroyed thousands of acres of citrus and devastated a portion of central Florida's economy.
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In 1904, Peter Pierson and his son Eugene received 10,000 asparagus plumosus from their relative who ran a florist business and greenhouse in Connecticut. Though not a true fern, it was known as Plumosus Fern in the florist industry. It was thought that it might grow well in Florida's climate. They were right -- it thrived, and gave birth to the fern industry in Pierson and surrounding areas. For the past century, this industry has earned Pierson the name "Fern Capital of the World." It was said at one time that the Pierson area produced over 80% of the ferns sold worldwide for the florist trade. |
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The Town of Pierson was incorporated in 1926. In the same year, a new school was built that would serve first as a high school and then as Pierson Elementary School. When a new school was built in 2017, Town of Pierson purchased the historic school building to serve as its government offices and preserve the property. |
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