The Cedar Keys – Atsena Otie Key – Aug 2018
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