During the 1830s, it was the site of conflicts with the Seminole people as the United States government tried to force them to remove to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, during Florida's tumultuous beginnings.

The village of Mayaca (also spelled Mayarca) was identified as belonging to the Outina confederation at one point, and being allied with the Saltwater Timucua at another.

[7] According to Spanish Franciscan missionary Francisco de Ayeta in his 1691 deposition, the Mayaca lived south of Freshwater Timucua territory.

"[citation needed] The first European documentation of present-day Volusia was by Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who in memoirs covering the period of 1558-1575, mentions Mayaca.

[1] In 1566, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés made a voyage up the St. Johns river to meet with principal caciques (chiefs).

The general consensus among the Spanish at the time was that the Mayaca were a distinct people from the (Sweetwater) Timucua, although the occupied part of the territory traditionally identified as Timucuan.

Slabs of crude mortar from that fort have been found on a small Indian mound about 500 yards from Volusia's Landing.

[7] By the mid-18th century, the Mayaca had suffered high mortality by invasions of native tribes from the north, including the Yamassee and the Euchees.

[1] In 1763, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, and conducted an exchange with Spain to take over East Florida.

It was documented in a series of Spanish Land Grants and Confirmed Claims as follows: Horatio S. Dexter vs United States, 4/5/1815 claim: Dexter deposes before the Board, September 8, 1824 that Joseph Hernandez came in April 1821 to his plantation, Volucia, to obtain "boats and hands" to survey his land and the surveyor was Burgevin.

H. Dexter presented his claim to 2,000 acres, known as the Volusia tract, applied for in 1815 and recorded 10th Septembre, 1818, Spanish Royal Title.