"Good Times"...(1865-1895) 

   The war's end meant the beginning of prosperous times for Cedar Key. Parsons and Hale reopened their general store. It became a successful and enduring commercial establishment. Items for sale included furniture, dry goods, staple groceries, naval stores, produce, fuel oil, hardware, building supplies and agricultural implements. Hale and Parsons were also shipping agents and were involved in the fishing and turtle business. Offices of the Customs House and the Cedar Key Post Office were also located in the general store during this period.
   In 1867, the great botanist, naturalist, and conservationist John Muir completed his thousand-mile walk from Louisville, Kentucky, to Cedar Key. He contracted malaria and remained in Cedar Key for several weeks while recovering from the illness. Muir's journal contains accounts of life in Cedar Key including a description of a general store, perhaps Parsons and Hale's:

"I stepped into a little store which had a considerable trade in quinine and alligator and rattlesnake skins and inquired about shipping, means of travel. etc."

   It is unknown when Parsons and Hale's General Store began taking boarders and selling meals. However, a reference on a real estate map from 1884 notes "restaurant and furnished rooms". It is likely that the downstairs continued to be used for commerce and the upstairs to accommodate guests.
   One of those guests may have been a President of the United States. There is an unsubstantiated story that President Grover Cleveland visited Cedar Key upon his return from Cuba sometime during the early 1890's. Cedar Key was then a major port and steamships frequently made runs to and from Havana. The President is reported to have spent the night at Parsons and Hale's.