Janice Coupe, former resident of Cedar Key, restaurateur and librarian has penned her memoirs reflecting a period of change and heightened controversy in the island city. She looks back on a time when Cedar Key still held fast to its deep roots though the tight hold was beginning to slacken. Newcomers were arriving, old-timers were passing on and the town`s physical makeup began to slowly change. It was unsettling. Something was in the air.
One of the most painful history-changing events in the Cedar Keys was the Net Ban debacle. An entire town and community`s way of life was under the gun. Ms. Coupe brings us back to that time of raw frustration, anger and loss and we are reminded of the funeral-like pall that enveloped the little fishing village.
There is plenty of "tell-it-like-it-is" in Paradise Lost and there`s no hiding behind palm trees from the reaction to those who were determined to put a different face on the landscape. Progress and development arrived with all of its rule-twisting, un-neighborly like conduct, and plenty of money.
Thru hard work and determination Ms. Coupe established The Heron Restaurant a difficult and daunting task indeed, as she explains. Not only did she have a forever-long day at her highly rated restaurant, she also had to deal with the ghost who came to call at unexpected times. Ms. Coupe published a cookbook entitled "Sixty Miles From a Lemon" whose title suggests her many challenges. Janice Coupe played a central role in the monumental planning and finally the opening of the new Cedar Key Library.
Cedar Key definitely changed and most people would probably say not for the better, but perhaps warm memories linger with the lady who called Cedar Key home for a while. Her reminiscences of good friends and good food, sunsets, wildlife (especially her raccoons), moonlight on the water and the absolute beauty of her surroundings makes one feel all was not lost. - By Linda Dale
This is an enjoyable book; especially so for a self-published one. It is well written, well edited, and professionally executed from its general format to its picture inclusions; far better than one might expect, even from a former English teacher. My kudos.
Mrs. Coupe, for those unaware, was a very important and productive person here on Cedar Key. She came years ago and "fit right in." Her husband served for a time as family physician to the residents. During her tenure she opened and operated THE HERON, likely the most famous restaurant ever in "Island City." People drove from miles around to enjoy the fare. The cook book she later wrote about it - Sixty Miles from a Lemon - is a treasure, especially since she includes her best recipes, which encompass tips and detailed instructions for the preparation of some extraordinary meals. That and some interesting Cedar Key history, aside from that pertaining to the restaurant.
Subsequently she served as the librarian for our dismally small and under-stocked facility. As such she became the principal mover and shaker behind the new library, now the pride and joy of the island, and quite a remarkable one for a community of only a thousand souls.
Her writing style is modest but eloquent, with Micheneresque echoes from time to time. Her descriptions of this remote, underdeveloped area (when it was such) are illuminating, giving the reader a definite sense of just how it used to be here in paradise. Tales of wildlife, "flapping fish" (but none of the "the girls I knew") and the pleasant if sometimes destructive weather, including the tribulations of post-hurricane cleanup. It is a revealing paean to survival of this small, sturdy community. She includes a few anecdotes about people on the island, and a number of descriptions of its now vanished employment opportunities, recently as a result of the banning of commercial fishing, though clear-cutting the cedars and exhausting the oyster beds didn`t help much in earlier times. As well she gives a nod to the clam farming which now replaces fishing. She appropriately relates, rather scathingly, how honest, hard working people were driven out, the better to serve "sport fishing" for the masses, and shares her unhappiness over the shift to a recreational/vacation atmosphere with its residential building and commercial tourist activities. Unfortunately, this is what is left for Cedar Key.
There are a few caveats which I have mentioned to her as regards this commentary. While it is her memoir, and she is entitled to include that which she chooses, in my opinion she might have lightened up a little on several of her diatribes about her troubles in several circumstances. In place she might have included more cameos of the many interesting characters in the community. And she might have shortened up on the details of the library construction.
Further, she indicates that "paradise [is] lost," with which I would take certain issue. The world is changing. Cedar Key, while changing with it, is being altered at a much slower pace. (Visit Sarasota or Naples . . . even Gainesville if you doubt.) Most of us newcomers enjoy it here for the same reasons she did, if a few decades late. It is still a place of quiet enjoyment for many, and especially when compared to cities from which most of us came, as did she long years ago. We too are offended by the newly constructed monstrosity which replaced our lovely old dock. It is seldom visited by locals. We too are a little upset by some of the tacky construction of new homes. We too are bothered by the noise of motorcycles roaring about town.
Yet to vindicate oneself it is necessary to look about for beauty and reality, not seek out the lameness of turmoil and discord. Cedar Key is sought after as a place of refuge from much of the too busy modern world. Sunrises and sunsets are still magnificent; ocean breezes are still pleasant; charm, sociability and cordiality still abound. Island City, while certainly different than it was 30 years ago, is still glorious in the opinion of most of us. Paradise may well be changed, but it has not been lost. -By Dick Martens Paradise Lost: a memoir
Janice Coupe
ISBN 9781880732175
Available at Curmudgeonalia
Sixty Miles From a Lemon
Available at the Cedar Key Historical Society | 