Cedar Key is a city in Levy County, Florida, a cluster of islands on the Gulf of Mexico along the state's Nature Coast, connected to the mainland by State Road 24. Home to about 690 residents, it is one of Florida's oldest communities and forms part of the Gainesville metropolitan area. The Cedar Keys are a small archipelago, and the city's setting among tidal flats, salt marshes, and open Gulf water defines both its isolation and its enduring appeal. The town incorporated in 1869 and thrived as the terminus of a railroad that carried cedar, fish, oysters, and sponges to eastern markets, alongside a pencil-manufacturing industry built on the area's abundant cedar timber. A devastating hurricane in 1896 and the railroad's abandonment in 1932 reshaped the community, which turned increasingly toward fishing and seafood. Naturalist John Muir visited the islands and wrote of their beauty, and an exhibit at the local historical museum preserves his connection to Cedar Key. The modern economy was transformed again in 1995, when a statewide ban on large-scale net fishing prompted many local fishermen to shift into clam farming. Today Cedar Key's clam aquaculture is a multimillion-dollar industry and a defining part of its working waterfront, with the town's seafood celebrated well beyond the Nature Coast. The village is served by the Cedar Key School, the smallest public PreK-12 school in Florida, and its character is defined by a walkable, traffic-light-free downtown, colorful cottages, and the surrounding Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge. Its streets hold no traffic signals, and the pace of life follows the tides rather than a commuter clock. For homebuyers, Cedar Key offers a rare, unhurried coastal lifestyle steeped in Old Florida tradition.