The Oxford dictionary defines history as the methodical record of public events, past events, course of human history and the study of these. A Historical Society is therefore, by definition, the custodian of history.
A visit to the Cedar Key Historical Society's museum reveals a history that is well tended. A glance through the census records, Levy County archives and the collection of old photographs shows us that Cedar Key was a place to be, a destination, where people came to make a life for themselves and fulfill their dreams. Ralph Waldo Emerson once commented, " There is no History, only Biography ". The voices that speak to us from Cedar Keys past, tell us stories that record a time when life was hard and dreams were often shattered. What becomes apparent is the fact that people were drawn to its location, its beauty and that special something that one finds only on an island. Islands bewitch and seduce us. As worlds with well-defined boundaries, it is perhaps easier to gain perspective and a clearer understanding of our place on this earth. People, who came to Cedar Key in the early 1800s, are the same people who come here today. The 1850 census includes a riverboat pilot from England, a fisherman from Portugal, a shipping merchant from Connecticut, a laborer from Ireland, a seaman from Spain and a member of New York's legislature, people of diverse backgrounds and cultures. Today's census would reveal the same diversity. Florida's first census as an American territory was held in 1830. Familiar names like Beckham, Coulter, Williams, Sparkman and Colson appear for the first time. Not many of us have that kind of heritage connecting us to a place.
If History is Biography, then it is the stories of these first families and those that followed that must be preserved. The museum is a repository for the chronicles, memoirs, journals, diaries and letters that record their births, marriages and their deaths. In February of this year, the Historical Society celebrated its 25th anniversary. That celebration showed its commitment to the Cedar Key community. It is a special place that we all need to preserve and conserve with careful planning and thoughtful actions, " gathering sequels by what went before ". * As a reporter for the Levy Times-Democrat stated in 1916, " Cedar Key has all it takes to come back, if you come once". For many of us, that's indeed all it took! * William Shakespeare |
