Qualla: Cedar Key, Florida

Cedar Key, Florida: Introduction

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY 2.5. A Spanish cartographer marked these islands on a map in 1542, labeling them "Las Islas Sabines" -- The Cedar Islands -- for the red cedars that grew thick along their shores. Nearly five centuries later, Cedar Key is home to just 687 people, a population that has actually shrunk since 2010. Yet this tiny cluster of islands off Florida's Big Bend coast has been fought over by the Seminoles, the U.S. Army, Confederate rifle companies, and a parade of hurricanes -- each leaving its mark on what remains one of the most historically layered small towns on the Gulf of Mexico.

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Image: Ebyabe | CC BY 2.5

Cedar Key, Florida: Twelve Thousand Years of Occupation

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kristine from St. Augustine, USA, CC BY 1.0. Archaeological evidence puts human presence on and around the Cedar Keys at 12,000 years, based on Paleo-period arrowheads and spear points collected by local historian St. Clair Whitman and now displayed at Cedar Key Museum State Park. A dig at Shell Mound, north of Cedar Key, u...

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Image: Kristine from St. Augustine, USA | CC BY 1.0

Cedar Key, Florida: Fort, Hospital, Hurricane

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. During the Second Seminole War, the U.S. Army established Fort No. 4 on the mainland adjacent to the Cedar Keys. General Zachary Taylor requested the islands be reserved for military use, and General Walker Keith Armistead ordered a hospital built on Depot Key, which became the A...

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

Cedar Key, Florida: Pencils, Railroads, and War Prizes

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Settlement came quickly after the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 opened the islands to homesteaders. Augustus Steele, the U.S. Customs officer for Hillsborough County, claimed Depot Key and renamed it Atsena Otie Key. Cedar Key became an important port for lumber and naval stores. ...

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Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cedar Key, Florida: The Lighthouse on Seahorse Key

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Congress appropriated funds for a lighthouse on Seahorse Key in 1850, and the Cedar Key Light was completed in 1854. The lantern sits atop a hill, placing the light well above sea level and visible for miles across the Gulf. Wood-frame residences were later added to each side of ...

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Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cedar Key, Florida: Battered but Standing

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cedar Key's relationship with hurricanes is as old as its recorded history. The 1842 storm that ended the Seminole War military presence was only the beginning. In November 2020, Hurricane Eta made one of its Florida landfalls near Cedar Key as a tropical storm. In August 2023, H...

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Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0