Cedar Key & Rosewood: Pencils, Clams, and a Buried Town

Welcome to Drive Thru Towns. In this episode, we travel to the end of State Road 24 to visit two towns forever linked by a railroad, a swamp, and a silence that took decades to break: Cedar Key and Rosewood, Florida.

This isn't just a trip to a quiet fishing village; it’s a journey through the tools that wrote American history and the stories that were nearly erased from it. We explore:

• The Pencil Capital of the World: How the towering cedar forests of these islands provided the wood for billions of pencils, fueling American education and bureaucracy until the trees simply ran out.

• Atsena Otie: The "original" Cedar Key, now a ghost island of ruins and cisterns, abandoned after the devastating hurricane of 1896 proved that nature always has the final say.

• The Tragedy of Rosewood: A somber look at the self-sufficient, prosperous African American community that was destroyed in a week of violence in 1923—and the brave railroad conductor who risked everything to spirit women and children to safety.

• Breaking the Silence: How a town "erased" from the map for sixty years finally had its story told, leading to a historic act of state restitution.

• The Clam Resurrection: How a community that lost its timber and its nets reinvented itself as a world-class aquaculture hub, proving that resilience is the true local industry.

The road into Cedar Key is the same road out, but after hearing these stories, you’ll never look at the Florida hammock—or a Number Two pencil—the same way again.

Host: Andrew Wilcox

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Instagram: @50statefamily

LinkedIn: Andrew Wilcox

Email: wilcoxlegal@gmail.com

Special thanks to Chloe Jones for the music: chloejonesmusic.co.uk

Fernandina Beach: The Isle of Eight Flags

Welcome to Drive Thru Towns. In this episode, we steer toward the northeastern tip of Florida to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island—a place that has seen more flags, more pirates, and more reinventions than perhaps any other spot in America.

Fernandina Beach isn't just a charming Victorian escape; it is a survivor of centuries of global tug-of-war. We explore the high-stakes history of this deep-water harbor, including:

• The Pirate Republic: The wild story of Luis Aury, a French privateer who claimed the island for a Mexican Republic that didn't even know he existed, just to provide cover for his smuggling operations.

• The Eight Flags: Why this small island holds the unique distinction of having been under eight different national flags—from France and Spain to the short-lived "Republic of the Floridas."

• The Manhattan of the South: How Senator David Levy Yulee built the state's first cross-peninsula railroad and envisioned a metropolis that would rival New York, only to have his dreams derailed by the Civil War.

• The Palace Saloon: A look inside the oldest continuously operated bar in Florida, which survived Prohibition by selling "medicinal" ice cream and gasoline, and where a ghost bartender reportedly still keeps watch.

• Victorian Resilience: How a town that once thrived on shrimping and shipping preserved its stunning "gingerbread" architecture to become a masterclass in historic preservation.

Fernandina Beach is a town that empires wanted, pirates stole, and locals saved. It’s a reminder that even the most beautiful places are often forged in the fires of conflict and ambition.

Host: Andrew Wilcox

Follow for more episodes: [Click Follow on Spotify]

Instagram: @50statefamily

LinkedIn: Andrew Wilcox

Email: wilcoxlegal@gmail.com

Special thanks to Chloe Jones for the music: chloejonesmusic.co.uk

Mount Dora: Where the Map Lies

Welcome to Drive Thru Towns. In this episode, we climb to one of the highest points in Florida to discover Mount Dora—a town that defies every geological and cultural expectation of the Sunshine State.

Mount Dora isn't just a quaint village of antique shops and bed-and-breakfasts; it is a place of inland lighthouses, cinematic history, and Cold War secrets. We explore the fascinating contradictions of this lakeside "mountain" town, including:

• The Mountain and the Light: How a town at 184 feet above sea level became a Florida "peak" and why it maintains a proud, freshwater lighthouse miles from any coastline.

• The Catacombs of Mount Dora: The incredible story of the "Catacombs," a 5,000-square-foot private bomb shelter built during the height of nuclear anxiety—complete with a 2,000-pound steel door hidden beneath a croquet court.

• The Pinkest Disaster in Hollywood: A look back at the time Hollywood painted the entire town Pepto-Bismol pink for the film Honky Tonk Freeway, and how the town survived the movie’s spectacular box-office failure.

• Pat Alasnas’s Ghost: The literary legacy of the novel Alas, Babylon, which used Mount Dora as the inspiration for a town surviving nuclear annihilation.

• A Legacy of Stubbornness: How Mount Dora has maintained its identity—and its afternoon tea—against the relentless pull of nearby Orlando’s theme park gravity.

  Mount Dora is a masterclass in being exactly yourself, regardless of what the map or the neighbors say. It is a town built on a ridge that looks out over a landscape it refuses to conform to.

Host: Andrew Wilcox

Follow for more episodes: [Click Follow on Spotify]

Instagram: @50statefamily

LinkedIn: Andrew Wilcox

Email: wilcoxlegal@gmail.com

Special thanks to Chloe Jones for the music: chloejonesmusic.co.uk