Wednesday, October 1, 2014
We’ve been in Cedar Key for the last couple of days, so this post will cover our visit here. Now you probably wonder where is Cedar Key, so we thought it might be a good idea to include a map.
The blue circle is Cedar Key. It is an island that lies about 3 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico. You travel across a causeway to get here. It is a very unique place. Population is about 700 and the preferred mode of transportation is by golf cart. The speed limit is 20 mph. The whole place seems to be paced at that speed. It is one of the most laid back places we’ve ever visited. Not much opens before 11AM and by 4PM it’s a ghost town.
The first fact to share is Key vs. Island. Why isn’t it called Cedar Island? Well the term Key is Spanish for small island. Also around here any hunk of land sticking out of the water and made of corral or sand is a key. Islands are on rocks.
Cedar Key is one of about 13 keys in this area, but you need a boat to visit them. We took a boat tour yesterday that travelled to several of these keys, which brings up some of the fascinating history of the place.
Indians settled here in the 1700s. A railroad connected Cedar Key, then called Way Key, to the Atlantic Coast in 1861 It was destined to be a major commercial port on the Gulf, shipping goods from here as well as goods from Mexico and South America, but that all changed in 1885 when a competing railroad got built into Tampa.
At this time, 1865, they were harvesting red cedar from nearby Atsena Otie Key. A mill was built and the red cedar planks were shipped to New York and turned into pencils by the Faber and Eagle Pencil Companies. Millions of board feet were shipped and pretty much stripped out almost all of the red cedar. A big hurricane hit Atsena Otie Key in 1896 and finished off the lumbering and mill operation there. That key was abandoned and everyone moved to Way Key, then incorporated as Cedar Key.
The pier still remains at Atsena Otie Key, now home for birds.
The depletion of red cedar, the development in Tampa, the 1896 hurricane, and the Civil War all pretty much wiped out Cedar Key. They lost over 1/2 their population.
The people that stayed developed a thriving fishing and oyster industry and Cedar Key was on its way back. About this same time around 1910, Dr. Daniel Andrews, a dentist from Indianapolis, started a fiber company called the Standard Manufacturing Company. His process created fibers from the Cabbage Palm that was used in brooms. Fibers were shipped all over the world. His company employed about 100 people. He later formed a whisk broom company called Donax. This continued into the 1950s. Another hurricane and the development of a synthetic broom fiber wiped out his business and much of Cedar Key, again.
Another hurricane in 1972 knocked out many of the docks. Just as their fishing economy was coming back, gill netting was outlawed in 1995. Amazingly they have bounced back, now with clam and oyster farming. About 75% of all clams sold in the US comes from here. They also provide the clam and oyster seeds for the other 25%.
This town has amazing resilience, considering its population is so small. It is growing in tourism and many people like the slow pace here for retirement.
Okay, so much for history; we have been traveling around and have found some pretty unique stuff. Oh yeah, almost forgot, we sampled the best clam chowder we ever had at Tony’s. It was chosen the World’s best for three years.
For our journey we traded sunscreen for DEET, and we needed it. Mosquitos were everywhere.
An Egret The Suwannee River
Yep, saw our first gator today on a nature drive through part of the Lower Suwannee NWR. Also our first swamp, but we’ll see more when we get to the Everglades.
Also saw another huge spider. The body of this thing was like 2 inches across. Wow!!
Tomorrow we are off to Homosassa Springs about 60 miles south, still on the coast. Wait till you see what we have planned there!
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