Cedar Key port and salt works
Port, Cedar Key, Florida.
- Side
- Confederate
- Kind
- Port
- Where
- Cedar Key, Florida
- Years
- 1861-1864
- Today
- Built over
CEDAR KEY PORT AND SALT WORKS
Gulf terminus of the Florida Railroad from March 1, 1861, and an early source of salt for the Confederacy. The USS Hatteras raided it in January 1862. A Union raid in October 1862 destroyed 60 salt kettles on Salt Key, and the Union occupied the Cedar Keys in early 1864.
Then
Cedar Key became the Gulf terminus of the Florida Railroad when the first train arrived on March 1, 1861. It was an important source of salt for the Confederacy early in the war.
The USS Hatteras raided it in January 1862, burning ships loaded with cotton and turpentine and destroying the railroad's rolling stock and buildings on Way Key. A Union raid in October 1862 destroyed 60 salt kettles on Salt Key that made 150 bushels a day, and the Union occupied the Cedar Keys in early 1864.
Now
Built over
Cedar Key is a small city in Levy County; the 1859 Parsons and Hale's General Store is now the Island Hotel.
The nearest railroad in service today is a line owned by a smaller railroad, about 24 miles from the center of Cedar Key.