Celery City, Sanford, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Celery City is a restaurant and bar at 116 N Palmetto Ave in Sanford, Florida, housed in a building that once served as the Seminole County jail. The structure is more than 130 years old and began as a wagon shop and blacksmith. It still carries reminders of its jail days in its signs, windows and bar.

The story behind it

The building began as a wagon shop and blacksmith, a working place for a growing town. About 25 years later it changed purpose and became the jail for Seminole County. That second life gave the building the character visitors see today.

It now operates as a restaurant, and its owners have kept the jail's history visible rather than hiding it. The bar is made from wood salvaged from the original building, and signs around the dining areas still name what each room was used for. The name nods to Sanford's nickname, Celery City, and to the craft beer scene that has grown across the city in recent years.

What to look for

• The bar itself, which is built from wood taken from the original building, so you are leaning on part of its past.
• The signs in the different rooms, which still show their former jail purposes, such as visitation and booking.
• The original cell bars, which are reused in the windows and between rooms.
• The way the rooms connect, which makes it easy to picture how a wagon shop turned into a county jail and then into a place to eat.

Tips for your visit

• Plan about an hour if you stop for a meal or a drink, and check current opening hours before you go.
• You can go inside as a customer, and that is the best way to see the signs and cell bars up close.
• It sits in downtown Sanford, so it combines easily with a stroll along nearby streets and toward the lakefront.
• Go when you are ready to sit down, since the interior details are best enjoyed at a table or at the bar rather than in passing.

See it on a quest

Playing Sanford’s Most Wanted, Can You Catch the Killer? is a good way to see Celery City, because a former jail fits a crime-themed walk. You reach it on foot as one stop of a longer route through the area, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. There is no guide and no group to join, and you can start whenever you like. One ticket covers the whole group.