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From the brochure of the
Cedar key Historical
Society Museum |
Cedar Key is mainly famous for three
things: the Cedar Key Arts Festival, the Seafood Festival, and the island's people and their way
of life.
For a village of less than 700 permanent residents, the number and
quality of artist and skilled craftsmen will astound you. As you walk the streets of Cedar
Key you will see locally done art at every turn...Paintings, sculptures, wood carvings,
and local crafts are everywhere... artwork that is celebrated each Spring with our
annual Cedar Key Arts Festival.
Since Cedar Key is still a fishing village in many ways the Seafood Festival
is held each Fall to celebrate our fishing industry. The Seafood Festival honors more than
the economic impact of the men and women that take part in fishing, it celebrates their
contribution to the core of the fabric of life on Cedar Key.
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Photo By Natural History Writer
& Photograper Jeff Ripple |
The thing we are most proud of, and the
thing that brings visitors back again and again, is our people and the way of life on
Cedar Key. If you start with a base of families that are descendants of the early
settlers, add in a mix of fishermen, sprinkle in some artisans, then top it off
with some retirees (both young and not so young), you end up with a mixture that is
the attitude and lifestyle of Cedar Key--a lifestyle that is old Florida with it's
friendliness and neighborliness, but with the experiences of the outside world that allows
us to have great restaurants and great artists. It's a mixture of people who, for the most
part, live here because we want to, not because we have to! It's a mixture of people that
will make your visit seem like a trip to that small, romantic home town long
disappeared.
We look forward to welcoming you to Cedar Key...what you will find here is
best described by an excerpt from a long-forgotten brochure "Cedar Key...A Way of
Life" by Ron MacIntyre. The descriptions of Cedar Key were appropriate then and still
are today...
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Photo By Natural History Writer
& Photograper Jeff Ripple |
"Cedar Key might well be called the last
outpost of the Florida Keys, inasmuch as it is the only remaining group of islands which
has not been touched by the lush-plush of the resort hotels ... where there are no
nightclubs and where the hustle-bustle honk and screech of traffic is unknown. What is
more, it probably will remain such a quiet, peaceful place for some time to come, due
largely to its geographical location. It is off the beaten track, fortunately for those
who appreciate nature, unchanged and unaltered by man, and for those, too, who are seeking
rest and relaxation.
The city of Cedar Key, with a population of between 600 and 700 people,
located on Way Key, which is the largest and only regularly inhabited island in this group
of over 100 keys (the entire group being known as the Cedar Keys), is situated three miles
from the main-land out in the Gulf of Mexico. It is reached by a causeway of a series of
bridges over a fine paved road, State Road 24, 22 miles west and south of Otter Creek,
which, is located about half way between Tallahassee and Tampa on U.S. 19. Cedar Key is 57
miles from Gainesville, where daily Greyhound bus service is available*, to and from Cedar
Key, and 127 miles from Jacksonville.
After leaving U.S. 19 at Otter Creek you will find no other towns, places of
business or even signboards** for the 22 mile stretch of excellent highway through natural
verdure of pine, cypress, cabbage palms and palmettos . . . water hyacinths and other wild
flowers dot the roadside and then, after a turn onto a bridge, and you suddenly find an
amazing vista before your eyes . . . the calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico dotted with
numerous lush-green islands as far as the eye can see. The drive through natural jungle
and across small creeks prepares you for the thrill you will receive when you first,
behold the keys. You will experience a new sensation as you drive from one little island
to another, realizing that you have left the mainland behind. You may feel like the little
boy who said, "It's like going on steppingstones into the never-never land."
Sunrise or sunset is perhaps the most thrilling time to enter the keys because it
is then that the coloring is so varied and changeable, then, too, should you arrive on a
cloudy or rainy day you'll experience a different emotional reaction. Whenever you arrive
you cannot fail to be awed by the semi-tropical-scenery along the highway and the
magnificent fastness of the gulf combined with the beauty of the keys when you first see
them. There is something truly enchanting about a full moon, especially in Florida on the
water and the keys. The gentle balmy breezes add motion to the cabbage palms which the
moon paints silver as it does the gentle ripples of the gulf water. There is a stillness
and peace which is the best known therapy for jangled nerves."
Our thanks to famed Natural History Writer &
Photograper Jeff Ripple for the use of some of his
photos of Cedar Key. Please visit his Web Site at http://www.jeffripple.com.
*Note: Greyhound Bus Service is no longer available
** Note: There are a couple of stores now, plus a few billboards. You also pass through
the historic town of Rosewood |
