i hesitate to write about this place but realize there is little point in blogging if the secrets aren't told as much as the other stuff. i love cedar key. it has been here for a couple hundred years or so and seemingly no notice has benn taken of this place, well very little. probably about 800 people live here year-round. on our way to new orleans we drove to cedar key just to see what was at the end of a spur off of highway 19 that went to the coast. we were enchanted and made a note to come back for a stay toward the end of our roadtrip. this is a laid back little village that has more charm than it should. i'll tell a bit about the history just to give you some idea.
cedar key used to be covered by a cedar forest, until eberhard faber took notice and milled all of the trees into lumber and sent it all back to brooklyn, new york, where he had a pencil factory. incidentally, judy's grandmother,on her father's side, worked in the pencil factory in brooklyn, new york, that made pencils out of cedar key cedar. after all of the cedar trees were cut into pencil lumber and a hurricane destroyed the sawmill and almost every other building on cedar key, mr. faber moved his operation elsewhere. since then, (1900 or so) not too much has happened in cedar key. it has been mostly a fishing village, oysters, fish, sponges, etc. since that fateful storm.
there are a couple campgrounds and a few small hotels there for those who wish to stay a spell.. but not a lot of accomodations. there are a number of restaurants and cafes, and a few tour boats that ply the local waters. these suggest to me that cedar key is more of a day trip destination in the summer. it would seem that people who live in the area come to town for a plesant sunday drive and go home for dinner. there are a couple of small museums that speak of a glorious past and a few shops. the world champion clam chowder restaurant is here. there are some very good eats to be had. the half bushel of oysters i bought went nicely on the charcoal gril at our campsite. the oysters were from apalachacola tho, for some reason the local oysters weren't doing so well. had to do with the cold winter i guess. we stayed at "the low key hideaway". four rv sites and five hotel rooms, on the water, gulf side of the road into town. it is a funky little place run by a lovely couple who are full timers taking a break off the road. they have made the run down little place into a real nice place to stay. when the permits are all squared away the tiki bar will be a wonderful place to while away the evening hours while watching the sunset. we woke up one morning to a huge flock of white pelicans chasing mullet in the inlet behind us. the tide was out and the mulet schools were exposed and the pelicans were gorging, quite a sight.
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