Pierson is a small town in northwestern Volusia County, Florida, set amid the fern farms and rural countryside between the St. Johns River and the city of DeLand. It is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach metropolitan statistical area, yet it retains a distinctly rural, agricultural character. At the 2020 census, the town had a population of 1,542. The community traces its settlement to the mid-1800s, when commercial fishing, livestock, lumber, and citrus formed the early economy. The freezes of December 1894 and February 1895 destroyed thousands of acres of citrus across central Florida, and growers in the Pierson area shifted toward the cultivation of ferns, a crop that thrives in the region's conditions and is shipped to markets across the country and abroad. That legacy is the basis of Pierson's nickname, the "Fern Capital of the World." Pierson's small-town identity is centered on its historic school building, constructed in 1926 and now serving as the Pierson Town Center and municipal offices. Public education is provided by the Volusia County School District, and the town is home to Pierson Elementary School. The town lies along U.S. Highway 17, the main north-south route through northwestern Volusia County, connecting Pierson to DeLand to the south and the Palatka area to the north. Lake George and the St. Johns River lie to the west and north, while the Ocala National Forest is within driving distance to the west. This location gives Pierson a quiet, close-knit way of life with easy access to the larger amenities of DeLand, Daytona Beach, and the rest of the Volusia County region.