About Us:

The Town of Hastings is a community, “Small In Stature, But Big At Heart.”

As of 2015, the population of the Town of Hastings is 604, as recorded by the University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, Gainesville, Florida.

The Town of Hastings centrally located for commuting; 12 miles to I-95 via SR207, 18 miles northeast via SR207 to St. Augustine, 15.68 miles east via SR206 to Crescent Beach, 6.8 miles west via SR207 to Palatka, 49.29 miles (1 hour 8 minutes) west via SR20 to Gainesville, 45.66 miles (1 hour) south via US 1 to Daytona Beach or 52.28 miles (52 minutes) via south via I-95.

The Town of Hastings is surrounded by hundreds of acres of beautiful farmland, giving our area the title “Potato Capital of Florida”. Other produce such as broccoli, silver queen corn, sweet onions, and cabbage are also grown in the Hastings area.

History:

The Town of Hastings, Florida, named after Thomas Horace Hastings (1860 - 1897), is located in the agricultural heart of the upper St. Johns River Valley 45 miles south of Jacksonville, 10 miles northeast of Palatka, and 15 miles southwest of St. Augustine. The area was first settled by Native-Americans about 3,500 years ago. After the founding of St. Augustine by the Spanish in 1565, Fort Picolata, about 10 miles nort of present day Hastings, was established on the St. Johns River in the late 1600's. The Fort was burned in 1740 by the British under Oglethorpe during the War of Jenkins' Ear. The Fort was reconstructed in 1755 by the Spanish.

The agricultural history of the Hastings area commenced with the transfer of Florida from Spain to Great Britain in 1763. Upon transfer, the British governor entered into the Treaty of Fort Picolata with the Native-Americans, thus, opening the St. Johns River Valley for peaceful agricultural settlement. Among the large farms established along the river near what was to become Hastings were Rollestown established by English philanthropist Denys Rolle in 1767, the Wiggins Plantation near present day Tocoi established following the return of the Spanish in 1783 by Job or Joseph Wiggins; and the Philip Fatio Plantation at New Switzerland. Rollestown was originally called "Charlotta" after Rolle's mother, Isabella Charlotta Walter Rolle. Rolle also named his daughter Isabella Henrietta Charlotta. Rollestown occupied 20,000 acres and was devoted to citrus, cattle and naval stores. The enterprise was intended as a utopian agricultural community for the poor, a land of "Peace and Plenty." With the withdrawal of the British in 1783, Rolle moved his community in the trading ship the Peace and Plenty to Exuma in the Bahama's where he established the twin communities of Rolletown and Rolleville.