COURTESY OF FLORIDA MEMORY
The Florida Railway & Navigation Company formed through various railroad mergers that included the Florida Railroad.
COURTESY OF FLORIDA MEMORY
Tracks in Cedar Key
In Search of the
Florida Railroad
On a bike trip along the route of the Florida Railroad, a father and son made their own journey of discovery from Cedar Key on the Gulf of Mexico to Fernandina Beach. BY MARCUS CASTILLO
L
ong before interstate highways Our own journey began at dawn and cruise ships, ships sailing from in Cedar Key. We pedaled eastward the Northeast to New Orleans risked through the sleepy fishing village and shipwreck on the reefs of the Florida into miles of coastal pine forests. Soon Keys as they made the 800-mile the day turned warm, then hot. The journey around the Florida peninsula. little towns we passed through were What if a cross-state railroad through mindful of their railway heritage. the wild Florida interior could Yulee’s railroad vision did not include radically reduce that distance and the building railroad towns along the time needed? In the mid-nineteenth route, but they sprang up nonetheless. century, that vision became reality Towns like Archer, Waldo, and Brandon and Marcus Castillo when the Florida Railroad was built Callahan, and cities like Gainesville, to join Fernandina on the Atlantic Coast to Cedar Key on the began catering to rail passengers, and stores and hotels soon Gulf of Mexico. On a long summer weekend, my youngest son followed. and I set out to retrace the nearly forgotten tracks of the Florida By the middle of our first afternoon, my son, Brendan, Railroad by bicycle. and I had reached Gainesville, nearly halfway across the state. The dream of the Florida Railroad gained traction in 1853 Modern-day Gainesville, home to the University of Florida, by legislative charter. Its president and majority stockholder bears no resemblance to a sleepy railroad depot. At midwas David Levy Yulee. Fernandina and Cedar Key were afternoon, the rains descended, and we had to hole up for a late thriving port cities at that time, and it made sense to connect lunch. Fifteen miles further, we came across a monument in the the two through the forests and swamps of North Florida. form of a red caboose and plaque commemorating the railroad. Construction began in 1855, and soon the steam locomotive A few miles further on, we stopped in Starke for the night. “Abner McGehee” pulled out of Fernandina station and David Yulee was one of Florida’s original railroad barons. headed westward. The journey to construct the railroad He was no stranger to audacity or controversy. He was would be slow – six years – with its completion coming at the America’s first Jewish senator, and he had a significant role continued on next page start of the Civil War. 47 AMELIA ISLANDER MAGAZINE •
MAY 2022
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