Sebastian River Area

The Sebastian River Area is the regional name the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce uses for Sebastian and its neighbors around the St. Sebastian River, from Fellsmere and Wabasso in Indian River County to Micco and Grant in south Brevard County.

It is a trade-area name, not a government. The Chamber, established in 1958, says it represents over 450 businesses and nonprofit organizations across Sebastian, Fellsmere, Micco, Grant, Wabasso, Little Hollywood and the surrounding areas of North Indian River County and South Brevard (Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce). No city, county or Census boundary carries the name, so the area is defined by who the Chamber serves.

The river explains the shape. The St. Sebastian River enters the Indian River Lagoon at Sebastian and splits the region between two counties: Micco lies on the north side of the St. Sebastian River in South Brevard County, according to the Chamber's community histories (Chamber community histories), while Sebastian, Fellsmere, Roseland and Wabasso are in Indian River County. One Chamber and one visitor center on Main Street in Sebastian serve both sides of the county line.

About 55,000 people live in the seven Census places that make up the core of the Sebastian River Area, led by the City of Sebastian at 26,262 in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey.

Sebastian dominates the count. The Census Bureau's table B01003 puts the City of Sebastian at 26,262 residents, with a margin of error of 35 (U.S. Census Bureau, Sebastian city), compared with 4,953 for the City of Fellsmere (Fellsmere city) and 8,896 for the Micco census designated place across the county line (Micco CDP). Grant-Valkaria, the incorporated Brevard County town whose name carries the Chamber's Grant, counts 4,921 (Grant-Valkaria town).

The smaller places carry wide margins. Vero Lake Estates shows 6,559 plus or minus 793 (Vero Lake Estates CDP), Roseland 2,142 plus or minus 783 (Roseland CDP) and Wabasso 1,467 plus or minus 309 (Wabasso CDP). The Chamber's own estimates run higher: about 30,000 for Sebastian and about 10,000 for the Micco area, including 6,000 retirees in Barefoot Bay.

The Sebastian River Area is built around one city on the lagoon, Sebastian, with a farm town to the west in Fellsmere, a railroad stop to the south in Wabasso and river communities to the north in Micco, Little Hollywood and Barefoot Bay.

The Chamber's community histories give each its own start. Sebastian was first known as Newhaven and was renamed Sebastian in 1884, and naturalists came for the St. Sebastian River, the Indian River Lagoon and Pelican Island. Fellsmere, the westernmost town in Indian River County, was up and running in 1911 and by 1915 had hotels, electric lights, a hospital and a yellow brick school; the Chamber notes that women could vote there five years before the rest of Florida. Wabasso began in 1893 as a water and fuel stop on the Florida East Coast Railway, and its first narrow wooden bridge was built in 1925 (Sebastian River Area Chamber community histories).

North of the river the history is Brevard's. Micco's post office was established in 1884 and the Florida East Coast Railroad came through in 1893. The Chamber says the Micco area includes Little Hollywood and Barefoot Bay, a retirement community established in 1969 on 1,100 acres, and that Micco has three marinas and boat ramps reaching the Indian River Lagoon, Sebastian Inlet and the St. Sebastian River.

The Sebastian River Area visitor center, the Pelican Porch, is in the Chamber of Commerce building at 700 Main Street in Sebastian, on the southeast corner of Main Street and U.S. 1, open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Chamber describes the Pelican Porch as a designated visitor center on the Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway and a VISIT FLORIDA Certified Tourism Information Center. Inside are destination videos for the Sebastian River Area and Fellsmere, map displays, an interactive kiosk, and monitors linked to the Sebastian Inlet and Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge webcams; outside, a porch with rocking chairs and a viewfinder looks over the Indian River Lagoon (Pelican Porch Visitor's Center). The Chamber says its Main Street office assists thousands of visitors each year with local referrals, recreation and eco-tourism information and community event calendars, and that it is a member-supported, volunteer-driven organization (Sebastian River Area Chamber, About Us).

The building has served Sebastian in other roles. The Sebastian Area Historical Society records that the building at U.S. Highway 1 and 700 Main Street housed the library from 1983 to 1998, then became the society's first museum, shared with the Chamber of Commerce, which still operates there (Sebastian Area Historical Society). The museum moved to the old Sebastian school on Main Street after hurricane damage in 2004.

The largest public land named for the river is St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, entered from Fellsmere at 1000 Buffer Preserve Drive, open 8 a.m. to sunset with no day-use fee.

Florida State Parks describes pine flatwoods as the focal point of the St. Sebastian River preserve, with over 23 distinct natural communities and over 70 listed species of threatened plants and animals, and over 60 miles of multi-use trails for hikers, riders and cyclists. It is one of only two state parks in Florida with red-cockaded woodpeckers, and a Manatee Overlook looks over the St. Sebastian River. Launching facilities are outside the preserve; two canoe landings give access from the river (Florida State Parks).

The preserve ties the inland edge of the Sebastian River Area to its waterfront. Its address is in Fellsmere, its canoe landings sit on the St. Sebastian River, and the same river reaches the Indian River Lagoon at Sebastian, the stretch where the Chamber's histories place Micco on the north bank and Sebastian on the south.