Pat’s Wildways: Cedar Key is recovering!

It’s been a year since I’ve visited Cedar Key on the other side of Florida, once a place Bucko and I have gone to a number of times a year. We used to enjoy walking around the little town, having beers at Steamers on Dock Street overlooking the water, and eating heaps and mounds of steamed clams. But a series of hurricanes wiped out Cedar Key as we long knew it. I am happy to report that a lot of Cedar Key’s ambiance is coming back!

On a recent visit there with my brother Ken it almost seemed like old times. Sure, the only grocery store on the island is still closed, and the ruins of some establishments on Dock Street are still depressing, but the signs of rejuvenation are unmistakable. The town park is landscaped again, the playground elements are back in place and there are even artistic signs along the walkway describing the influx of horseshoe crabs that visit the shallow waters to mate and spawn right on the shoreline in a month or so. In the interior lagoon, fishermen were casting for bait,

and crab and clam boats were in the water. A poignant sign shows how high the flooding got after the recent hurricane storm surges — as much as 11 feet during Hurricane Helene in September 2024. But now, finally, I was able once again to savor a beer overlooking the Gulf on Dock Street at Liam and Madi’s bar, where a corpulent ginger cat kept me company, and the other imbibers included me in their conversations.

Steamers Restaurant, once a popular spot along Dock Street, still exists, but has been moved inland to Second Street (a good move away from the next likely hurricane flooding event), and although it lacks the view, it still serves up the best buckets of steamed clams anywhere. The clam mariculture business has flourished in Cedar Key and fresh clams are readily available here. Besides clams, there were many other items on the menu at Steamers, including, to my amazement, an appetizer of blue crab claws in a scampi sauce, wow!

In my usual quest for information, I quizzed our Steamer’s server about the origin of these blue crab claws, and she went back to the kitchen to find out for me. As any long-time reader of my column knows, local blue crabs are one of my favorite treats, but I have never seen them served this way. I have previously found out that most of the blue crabs now sold in restaurants in the Chesapeake Bay area up north actually originate in Florida, to cover shortages of this cherished food item when local supplies are lacking. There are lots of blue crabs in the waters off Cedar Key. Surely these crab claws were locally obtained? But much to my surprise, it turns out they were imported here after being processed in Maryland! Really?

Back at the Island Hotel, a band was playing in their outside patio and a crowd of locals filled all the tables and chairs, with others waiting for seats. Our room at the quaint historic Island Hotel was fine, if a bit small, with its own private bathroom and access to shared spaces, featuring historic furnishings and decorations, and a large wrap-around second-floor porch with comfortable rocking chairs and a view of the street. Best yet, the hotel is connected to both the outside patio with great live music sometimes and an upscale restaurant serving all the seafood that has made Cedar Key famous.

After a full breakfast at the Second Street Café — which shares a restaurant building with Steamers that opens later in the day — Ken and I headed out of town for more north Florida adventures. But now that I have once again experienced the special ambience that Cedar Key offers once again, I am eager to return soon with Bucko.

I highly encourage those of you who have avoided Cedar Key after the recurrent hurricanes to give it another try. The people there are resilient, hard-working and loyal to their spot on Earth despite the changing climate and more frequent destructive hurricanes that aim right for it. The people here will value your visit and your calls to others to start returning. If these hardy residents can rebuild after back-to-back hurricanes, we can do our best to support them once again.

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and comments. patandbucko@yahoo.com