From Swampland to City in 30 Years! Before Palm Coast had neighborhoods, parks, or even paved roads, this entire area was nothing but pine forest, wetlands, and sand. Locals back then called it “a big pine covered swamp.” It was quiet, remote, and untouched, pure Old Florida between the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. That all changed in 1969 when the ITT Corporation, one of the largest companies in the world at the time, purchased about 68,000 acres in Flagler County. Their goal wasn’t