Atsena Otie was the original site of the town of Cedar Key, and in the present day includes a walking trail, swimming area, and ruins of the Eberhard Faber mill.

[2] In the early 16th century, Spanish explorers reached the Gulf coast of Florida and left their mark in many ways.

By the early 17th century, the native population had died off severely due to diseases brought by Europeans.

[citation needed] In 1840 General Walker Keith Armistead, commander at that time of United States troops in the Second Seminole War, ordered construction of a hospital on the island.

In October, 1842 Depot Key was hit by a hurricane that caused so much damage that the Army abandoned the post.

He renamed the island Atsena Otie Key and built summer cottages for wealthy Florida and Georgia planters.

The American Civil War brought both hardship and conflict to Atsena Otie Key.

On 7 January 1862 the USS Hatteras landed U.S. Navy sailors and Marines and attacked the rail head at Station No.

They were at first repulsed by a company of Florida state cavalry and local civilian workers, but succeeded in destroying the tracks, engines, and buildings before they retreated to the ship.

By the 1890s lumber production was making a profit of almost $900,000, and the Faber Mill alone produced wood for casing more than a third of a million pencils.

In 1997 Atsena Otie Key was sold to the Suwannee River Water Management District who entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S.