March 10, 2017 through March 15, 2017
Shell Mound County Campground
Cedar Key, Florida
This is our fourth visit to Cedar Key. We specifically come here for the “World Famous Clam Chowder” served up at Tony’s Seafood Restaurant.
Shell Mound County Campground will serve as our home base while we enjoy our return visit to Cedar Key.
Cedar Key is a small town in
Levy County, Florida. The population was 702 at the 2010 census. The Cedar Keys
are a cluster of islands near the mainland. The Cedar Keys are named for the
eastern red cedar, once abundant in the area. The old-fashioned fishing village
is now a thriving tourist center with several regionally famous seafood
restaurants. The village holds two festivals a year, the Spring Sidewalk Art
Festival and the Fall Seafood Festival, that each attract thousands of visitors
to the area.
In 1950, Hurricane Easy, a category-3 storm with 125-mile-per-hour winds, looped around Cedar Key three times before finally making landfall, dumping 38 inches of rain and destroying two-thirds of the homes.
Hurricane Elena followed a similar path in 1985, but did not make landfall. Packing 115-mile-per-hour winds, the storm churned for two days in the Gulf, 50 miles to the west, battering the waterfront. All the businesses and restaurants on Dock Street were either damaged or destroyed, and a section of the seawall collapsed.
After a statewide ban on large-scale net fishing went into effect July 1, 1995, a government retraining program helped many local fishermen begin farming clams in the muddy waters. Today, Cedar Key's clam-based aquaculture is a multimillion-dollar industry.
On October 3, 1989, 8,000 acres in and around Cedar Key were added to the National Register of Historic Places under the title of the Cedar Keys Historic and Archaeological District.
A cautionary note about GPS coordinates for Shell Mound County Campground. On our approach to Cedar Key, westbound on FL-24, our Garmin Nuvi directed us north on Shiloh Road and then west on what the GPS showed as SW 78th Place, a single-lane, dirt road. We knew the road to Shell Mound is a two-lane, paved road so we continued north on Shiloh Road to find a place to turn around. Shiloh Road is a dead-end road, but fortunately provides a large turn-a-round area at the end that allowed us to get turned around. Once we got west of Shiloh Road on FL-24, our GPS guided us directly to Shell Mound.
The correct route to Shell Mound is to follow FL-24 west to CR-347. Travel north on CR-347 to CR-C326 (SW 78th Place). Travel west on CR-C326 to the Shell Mound entrance on your right.
Tomorrow another adventure begins.
Travel Details:
Departed:
Silver Spring, Florida
Departure Time:
12:00 P.M.
Arrived: Cedar
Key, Florida
Arrival Time:
2:45 P.M.
Campground:
Shell Mound
Type: County
Park
GPS Coordinates
(actual coordinates at our campsite):
Latitude: N
29.20935
Longitude: W
083.06211
Camping Fees: Campsites:
Water &
Electric: $15.00
Electric Only:
$10.00
Primitive Tent:
$5.00
Military
Discount: 50%
Senior
Discount: None
A 7% Sales Tax
and 2% Bed Tax are added on to all fees.
Water &
Electric: 1 through 12, 20, 21, 23 through 28
Electric Only:
13 through 18
Primitive Tent:
9,19 & 22
Campground
Amenities: Flush Toilets, Free Hot Showers, Water Spigots, Trash Dumpster, Sewer
Dump – (RV’s must back up a gravel incline to access dump).
Verizon
Cellular Service: 3G-3 Bars
Verizon
Internet Service: 4G-22 Bars (Jetpack)
Dish TV Satellite Service: Excellent Service
Miles traveled today: 103
Route Traveled:
West on FL-40
West on CR-326
North on US-27
North on US-ALT 27
West on FL-24
North on County Road 347
West on CR-C326 to Shell Mound
Campground
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