Cedar Key

Cedar Key, situated on a cluster of small islands on Florida's Gulf Coast at the terminus of State Road 24 in Levy County, is one of the finest surviving examples of Old Florida fishing village character in the state — a place where the pace of life, building scale, and relationship with the surrounding sea remain essentially unchanged from the mid-20th century. The town occupies the main island at the end of a 23-mile causeway from Chiefland, surrounded by the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Reserve — a scattering of uninhabited barrier islands protecting nesting colonies of magnificent frigatebirds, white pelicans, herons, and ospreys. Cedar Key was one of Florida's most important 19th-century ports, with a pencil-manufacturing industry using red cedar and a fishing trade that predated the state's modern resort economy. The Cedar Key Museum State Park preserves this history with artifacts and exhibits tracing the town's evolution from Seminole settlement through Civil War occupation to fishing village. Today the town's economy rests on clam aquaculture — Cedar Key produces more farmed clams than any other location in Florida — and this maritime heritage infuses the restaurant scene with exceptional fresh clam chowder and seafood offerings. The main commercial waterfront along Dock Street provides galleries, seafood restaurants, and historic buildings with views over the Gulf and the wildlife refuge islands. Kayaking to the uninhabited surrounding islands is the town's premier outdoor activity, revealing mangrove waterways, seagrass beds, and extraordinary birdlife within paddle distance of town. Sunsets over the Gulf from the Cedar Key waterfront rank among the finest in Florida.