Cedar Key takes you back in
time
On
and around Cedar Key, Florida history moves in reverse. Once a thriving
fishing and commercial port where pencils were manufactured from its
namesake cedar trees, this island now boasts seclusion from the state’s
quickening pulse.
 It
gathers along with a dozen isles protected as the Cedar Keys National
Wildlife Refuge and nearly another 100 small low-lying keys, tucked into
the marshy coastline of Florida’s affectionately dubbed Big Bend.
Composed of shallow saltwater estuaries rather than sandy beaches, the
island group provides the habitat of choice for fish of many varieties.
Once the pencil industry had decimated the
cedar population, the region turned its economic attention to fishing and
seafood remains its main industry, form of recreation and culinary
offering.
The town of Cedar Key itself occupies Way Key, the only inhabited island
of the chain. From there, you can catch charters or kayak out to some of
the other islands to observe remnants of historic settlement –- a
lighthouse and military installations –- and throngs of birds. The
rookery at Seahorse Key hosts nesting brown pelicans, egrets, herons and
ibis and is off-limits during the nesting season, March through June.
Cedar Key, which still looks like a frontier town in places, has developed
a reputation for its artisan shops and seafood restaurants along Dock
Street. Commercial fishermen farm clams, which have become a culinary
icon. Artists and artisans fill galleries with sea-themed works. Every
year the town celebrates its two specialties with an October Seafood
Festival and an April Cedar Key Sidewalk Arts Festival.
Off the waterfront, quiet streets hold a historic inn, fishing cottages,
B&Bs, modern condominiums, and Cedar Key Museum State Park, which
looks back at the islands’ eras of turtling, sponging, shipbuilding,
fishing and pencil making.
Cedar Key lies at the end of a long road tethering it to a mainland shore
popularly known as the Nature Coast, one of Florida’s most pristine
stretches, protected by refuges and jotted with small fishing villages.
Heading north from Cedar Key, you reach the mouth of the Suwannee River at
the fishing hamlet named for it. Kayakers and houseboaters (rentals
available in Suwannee) explore the river -– forested with pine, magnolia
and cypress and populated with prehistoric creatures such as the
alligator, the manatee, and the Gulf sturgeon, a frighteningly large fish
that shows itself in violent catapults into the air. Along the way, they
find seafood houses and time-stilled towns to discover. Scuba divers
plummet the river’s depth, particularly at the City of Hawkerville
Underwater Archaeological Preserve, the wreck of a 1920’s steamboat.
The Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge preserves 52,257 acres and 250
species of birds around the Suwannee River. Upstream, you reach the first
of many springs that feed the river on its journey to Georgia’s
Okefenokee Swamp. Manatee Springs State Park is a magical land of cypress
and mammoth sea mammals. Swim in the ever-cool waters where the springhead
forms a natural pool and pumps out 116.9 million gallons of crystalline
water every day.
Scalloping ranks highly among the fishing pastimes along this coast.
Recreational scalloping is in season during the summer and the fishing
village of Steinhatchee reigns as bay scallop capitol. Scallop charters
are easy to find and many restaurants will prepare your catch. The most
well-known of the area’s fishing communities, Steinhatchee accommodates
its visiting sportsfolk in fish camps to the charming Victorian-styled
Steinhatchee Landing Resort, which has brought the village its renown by
hosting presidents and celebrities. Canoeing on the small Steinhatchee
River, hiking trails, hilly biking, surrounding small beach towns, and
friendly and flavorful seafood restaurants provide sightseeing rewards.
Off the waterfront, Highway 19 travels through historic hometowns and
pristine parklands, crossing yet more unspoiled rivers with lyrical names
such as the Waccasassa, Ochlockonee, Fenholloway and Wacissa. The Nature
Coast State Trail paves 31 miles for walking, bicycling, inline skating
and horseback riding, traversing Fanning Springs State Park and other
wildlife management areas.
The greatest treasures of the Cedar Key and Steinhatchee coved coastline
lie in the unique habitat created by the confluence of fresh and
saltwater. It remains one of Florida’s most closely guarded lands of raw
nature and thrilling adventure on the water. |
