Chuluota

Chuluota—pronounced “Choo-lee-oh-tah”—is a small, unincorporated community just east of Oviedo with its name likely derived from the Creek (Seminole) term “Chuluoto,” which is variously interpreted as “Isle of Pines,” “Pine Island,” “Land of Lakes and Pines,” or even “beautiful place.”

The town’s first white settlers arrived shortly after the Civil War—many trekked from North Carolina by ox cart, seeking new beginnings amid landscapes rich in wildlife and natural resources. They established orange groves, cattle ranches, a sawmill, and tapped pine forests for turpentine.

In the early 1890s, developer Robert A. Mills chose the melodic Indian name for the community, and around 1892, Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railroad expanded to the area. Flagler used the Chuluota Land Company to promote the town as a potential rival trade center to Orlando. The town’s citrus industry was, however, devastated by the Great Freeze of 1894–1895, and later setbacks—including the collapse of Florida’s land-boom and Flagler’s death in the 1920s, followed by the Great Depression—saw its growth stall and population decline.

Education played a role in Chuluota’s community spirit: a one-room schoolhouse was built in 1898, replaced in 1925 by a more modern elementary school that closed in 1948. That building later became the fire station and, since 1996, has housed the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10139—serving as the community center. After decades of dormancy, the 1950s and 1960s brought new development, and, in more recent years, the community has seen a wave of residential growth—particularly since 2003.

The 19 February 1885 Postal Service Bulletin (Volume VI, No. 1513), established the Chuluota post office with Arthur B. Crosby as the Postmaster as of 18 May 1886.