Depot Key-- Part 6: After the Civil War

In 1865, Eberhard Faber built a saw mill on Atsena Otie Key for his pencils.  Then, the Eagle Pencil Company did likewise on Way Key.

The Town of Cedar Keys was incorporated in 1869.

Early in his career, naturalist John Muir walked 1,000 miles from Louisville, Kentucky to Cedar Key in just two months.  He caught malaria while working at a saw mill in Cedar Key, but recovered and went to Cuba in 1868.  He wrote about Cedar Key in his memoir, "A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf."

Starting in 1886, Tampa, with its better rail connections took shipping away from Cedar Key which started an economic decline.

--Old Cedar-Runner