This Florida Paddle Notes category, Florida Gulf, lists several locations listed in this category and explored by Florida Paddle Notes
The unusual name was given by early Spanish settlers who felt the Horseshoe Crabs looked much like cockroaches, believing them to be related to the land insects. The Horseshoe crabs are no longer as predominant in this section of the Gulf Coast as they once were. We had a beautiful sunny day to explore one of the trails called Horseshoe Run…James
This area was inhabited by the Tocobaga Native Americans and later Spanish explorers Panfilo de Narvaez and Hernando De Soto. This was the beginning of Spain’s conquest of Florida. In 1900 the fort was named after Hernando De Soto. Both Fort De Soto and Fort Dade, on Egmont Key contained batteries of artillery and mortars to protect Tampa Bay. In 1923 both forts were officially abandoned and in 1948 Pinellas County designated Fort De Soto and Mullet Key a recreational area…James
Scale Key is part of the Cedar Keys chain located in Levy County. The Executive Documents of the 13th Congress 1847, which show that the Cedar Keys were reserved for occupation under The Armed Occupation Act of 1842. This act was to allow individuals with arms, to settle unoccupied lands in the Florida peninsula to help control any uprisings from the Seminole Indians that still remained in Florida….James
Cedar Key is a city located 50 miles southwest of Gainesville, Fl on SR 24, in Levy County. The group of keys is named after the Eastern Red Cedar tree, which played a predominant role during the 1800s. Cedar Key was actually offshore from where the city is located now, on the island key of Atsena Otie. “Atsena Otie” is from the Muskogean language “acheno ota” which translates to Cedar Island. It was here that settlers established the town Cedar Key in 1842…..James
In 1868 the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company built a lumber mill on Atsena Otie, supplying cedarwood to its pencil factory in New Jersey. A major hurricane and 10’ storm surge destroyed the mill in1896. Much of the salvaged homes as well as wreckage from the mill were floated over to re-establish the town of Cedar Key on Way Key……James
