The Florida Surf Museum (formerly the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum) was founded in 1999, inside a space so small you could barely turn a longboard around. The concept of a surf museum was a relatively new one at the time, but the community quickly latched on to Sean O’Hare’s vision, volunteering and donating much-needed funds.

For two years, boxes of stuff kept coming through the front door filled with surf magazines, pictures, trophies, and all kinds of memorabilia. Natural progression and the sheer volume of “stuff” made moving inevitable.

In 2000, the  Museum made its way to Natural Art Surf Shop on A1A. The shop took the museum under its wing and helped it along. The small museum and its volunteer force grew, as did the inventory and the list of local events produced in support of the museum.

In 2003, the Museum merged with the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and moved again into a bigger space at the Ron Jon Surf Shop watersports building. After a time, missions diverged and in November 2007 we separated from the ECHOF and returned to our roots a the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum.

In 2015, the Florida Surf Museum was created to expand the historical preservation parameters of the museum to highlight the surfing history and  culture of the entire state of Florida. The museum continues to include exhibits that feature the history and lore that defines Florida’s unique status in the world of surfing.

The Florida Surf Museum remains in the space in Ron Jon Surf Shop, where it offers public exhibits. It is also its headquarters for digital archiving activities and its new oral history project.