The original sketch for Dock Street Cedar Key was made in 2001.

The style of this folk art piece is intended to relate to the past in which this scene takes place. The time is 1861. The first cross Florida railroad was just completed between Fernandina Beach on the east coast of Florida connecting to Cedar Key on the west coast of Florida. Back then the shipping was done in large sailboats which had to sail the straights of Florida around Key West, the offshore winds drove many a sailboat onto the reefs near Key West. David Levy Yulee built the first cross Florida railroad in order to save time and create a more reliable route for shipping from the northern factories of New England to the Mississippi River and back.

David Levy Yulee was the first United States Senator from Florida in 1845 and he was the first Jewish United States Senator. He was the driving force that changed Florida from a territory to a state in the union in that same year. I live in Levy County, named after this United States Senator.