First of all, when you hear the work ‘Key’ you immediately place a tropical paradise scene in your head. Visions of swaying palm trees, beautiful beaches, serene settings and sunsets…

On the waterfront

Driving to Cedar Key is easy. From hwy 19 located smack dab in the middle of the west coast of Florida, drive west on Hwy 24. When you find Gainesville Florida on the map, just look to the left. Travel west on Hwy 24 until you come to Otter Creek on hwy 19. Still having relatives living here I must temper my views as they just might read my blog. Otter Creek will be the subject of it’s own entirely different story one day as soon as I pick all the ticks off…

Anyhow, keep traveling west on 24. You are going to go through some of Florida’s old country woods. Listen out for gunshots and hunting dogs if you travel off the main highway. Cedar Key appears to be a great destination of the motorcycle enthusiast. I saw large flocks of motorized machines heading both ways all weekend. It’s a nice ride on a cool autumn afternoon. The thick of summer may be a bit different though.

One of my big surprises was Rosewood. I recall bits and pieces of the story, but did not realize that it happened here. You won’t see much of Rosewood from the highway, and I suspect it resembles nothing of the story any longer. Time continues to pass and structures change as days and events fold into the pages of the history books. This page was a terrible bit of history. In 1923 there was a massacre here in which innocent people were lynched, homes burned, and people murdered.The Wikipedia link has the story with photos and additional information. For you geocachers, look up GC1AHE9. ( I guess this means I’ll have to do a post on what geocaching is… )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre

Keeping to the westbound direction you will pass a turn off for someplace called Shell mound.The GPS coords are on the page attached along with more of a description.

The shack on the water

http://seenorthflorida.com/destinations/shellmound.php

You will be entering Cedar Key when you pass over the first bridge on hwy 24. Slow down, no need to upset the local policeman in town. I saw him with a radar gun, and he wasn’t afraid to use it. Stay well within the posted speed limits. Its easy to creep over 30, so a word to the wise!

Cedar Key rail road bridge trail

Prior to entering town you will pass Grove st. on your left. It’s not very well marked, but just about 75′ down the street, and on the right, is a nature trail. It’s about a half a mile walk to the end where there are remnants of an old railroad bridge. For the Letterboxing hobbyist (I suppose now I’ll have to explain that as well ) there is a letterbox on this trail. I’m the geocacher of the traveling duo and my wife letterboxes. If you use the subscribe feature on this web page you will automatically get the geocaching and letterboxing posts when I get a few minutes to write them. (Signing up is free, no spam, you simply get the updates when written)

Anyhow, its a nice little trail if your up for a short walk in the woods. Otherwise, keep heading into town and you will eventually find the main protion of town, pretty much one street. There is not much here sans the obligatory tourist trinket shops. My wife, having spent her pre-teen years here, has some fond memories of what everything once was.

http://www.tonyschowder.com/about.htm

I realize that all restaurant web sites claim to be the best, have the best food and such, but this place has a lot of local recommendations. Maybe this is were all the motorcycle riders were going… There is also one particular recommendation that supersedes all other reviews, critiques, or opinions. This, from a seafood expert, an acclaimed critical critic of clam chowder, and lover of tasty seafood, my wife. She has given this restaurants clam chowder the highest of praises and ‘golden clam’ award.

I did manage to stop at the waterfront on two separate occasions for lunch. We went to a couple of places that were on the water. I guess it was the potential for the view overlooking the water that originally drew me to the businesses. It’s probably something you might want to check it off your list of been there done that, just to say you did. The water of Cedar Key is somewhat depressing. Its dark and muddy and boasts a viscosity factor of muck. I did see a couple of dolphins working a little bit off shore feeding on presumed schools of mullet.

The restaurant fare was ordinary. Okay, extra-ordinary. Nothing special, an okay value for the money if your hungry. I can not imagine that one restaurant on the block long waterfront is much better than any other. The seafood is trucked in, with the exception of mullet and clams which is local, or so said the waitress. There is nothing spectacular about the view other than it is water and your seated in a seafood restaurant overlooking said water. That about sums it up.

Restaurant row on the waterfront

My wife, and her family grew up here and she described it to me so that it made sense. She told me that she never knew you could see the bottom through the water until she went to the Florida Keys as a teenager. Her brother said he was so impressed with the amazing site of such clear water in the Florida Keys, that he moved there. If you hit the link on the left of the blog’s main page he is the fishing guide in Key Largo…

Granddad fished here when it was a fishing community. Scallops, mullet, red fish, clams, oysters, sponges… it was all here at one time. A time in the past. It provided his family with food on the table and a good means of income. It was an honest and good living while raising children in a small fishing village.

Something happened along the way that changed the flavor of Cedar Key. My brother in law said it was when Carrol O’Connor built the first large set of condo’s on the end of present day Cedar Key. I’m not sure why they are there. The beach is short, muddy, and covered with oyster shells. You will cut your bare feet…

Others say it was the fishing net ban in the 1990′s that put a halt to fishing in the area. There are still oyster fishermen working here, albeit a fraction of what once was. An old family restaurant/bar is now a laundromat. The old school is still there, and the State of Florida built a museum which cost’s a buck to walk into. The museum was depressing. There were a few trinkets pertaining to the railroad, a collection of common shells, a cleaned off rusty axe head, some cedar pencils and metal boxes… just an odd collection of junk. The State of Florida archeology division should be embarrassed. I know that they have vaults full of neat historical artifacts from this era and locale locked away in some Tallahassee building. Most of what is here was donated by local citizens. There is a copy of an old maritime navigation chart or two, nothing special though.

The old railroad bridge crossing, oyster shells

http://www.floridastateparks.org/cedarkeymuseum/default.cfm

The museum embodies my Cedar Key experience.     Extra-ordinary, bland, like a mayo sandwich.

The Key is stuck in-between dimensions, a sort of sideways time-warp between the past and the future. Some folks were as friendly as could be, others gave you that ‘get the hell out of here this is private property’ gaze. Once a very private out of the way locale struggling to become part of the future, while not being openly inviting, creates an odd mix of emotions. There is not much to do here really. One afternoon pretty much exhausts all the creative potential the island has to offer. The prices of real estate and taxes here are in line with what you will find anywhere in the Florida Keys. I’ve not discovered what gives the land here the oppressive monetary value placed on a shack, circa 1960. Some say it’s the artistic community moving in, some say it’s for the rustic appeal. I don’t get it. Should you visit here?

If your driving by, sure, why not. Check it off of your life list of things to do. If your sailing or boating this way… probably not. The water is dark and shallow. You should probably turn your water maker off if your anchored here. I did see one lone sailboat anchored off shore, and presume there is a spot to tie your dinghy to on the dock. Don’t pull onto the beach, the oyster shells will cut your dink up. There is one grocery store in town to walk to where you will pass a bank and a post office, if that is what your looking for. If your in the area for a resupply, take the time to go up the Crystal River and anchor in the basin. Crystal River provides good holding and protection from bad weather.

Tiki tree

Cedar Key… ~yawn~ been there.

I’m certain that once someone on the city council reads my review, I shall have the honor of having my photo placed prominately upon the dashboard of the city police car.