October 20-23, 2017
Cedar Key has relied on the gulf for the livelihood of its citizens. Crabs, turtles, oysters, fish and sponge have all played important roles in the economy. Cedar Key has hosted a couple of more unusual industries as well.
In the 1880s the area’s red cedars were harvested for use in pencil-making. A million cubic board feet of lumber were shipped every year to New York in the form of pencil slats. In New York, the slats would be grooved and graphite inserted.
And the “boots” from palmetto palms were processed into fibers used in broom making from 1910-1952. The fiber is no longer being processed anywhere, but some 50-year old fiber from the factory remains and is still made into hand-crafted brooms. 
Office
Palmetto “boots”. These were separated in a hackle, pictured below.
Partly-hackled boot. Once the fibers were separated, they were boiled for 48 hours, dried and oiled before being bound into brooms of various shapes and sizes.
3 Comments
Esther McAfee · November 20, 2017 at 7:39 am
This information could be in the category “When you are dealt lemons, make lemonade.” We visited Cedar Key while we lived in Gainesville in the early 1970s. Not much has changed since that time. Cool.
Travel safely. Esther.
Susan · November 20, 2017 at 11:50 am
What an wealth of knowledge you are becoming on these great tours
Laura · November 20, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Omgoodness. I didn’t know that I’ve been pulling up ‘boots’ in my yard as they have dried and died in the ground where I had to get rid of some palmettos obstructing vision in my driveway. Loving the tours and lessons!