A Place Called Steinhatchee, Florida

There are many of us who remember the days when nothing was open on Sunday except church and just a few other places.  It was not unusual for friends and family to all get together on a Sunday afternoon and have dinner and visit all afternoon.

Then, at other times we would go for Sunday afternoon drives with all the family.  After church daddy would pile all of us in the car, and we would take off and sightsee all around.  I especially remember the times when we would stop for a delicious ice cream cone along the way.

Now that my husband has more time off from his work we find we enjoy taking what feels like those old fashioned Sunday afternoon drives.   But, it can be any day of the week when time allows.

We recently took one of those drives on Highway 51 down to a little coastal town called Steinhatchee.  It only takes about an hour and forty-five minutes to get there from Tallahassee.   We had been there many years ago and wanted to see if anything had changed. 

We found the town has grown a good bit and has become a very nice tourist area for those who like to go fishing, scalloping, crabbing and just enjoy the Steinhatchee River. 

It would be fun to bird watch from this tower.

Many very pretty rental homes like this one in the below photo overlook the river.

I would love to see the view from here.

We discovered there are fishing guides available as well as canoe, kayak and pontoon boat rentals. 

There is also a two hour sunset cruise available on the river.

We enjoyed walking along the river bank and watching the fishermen.

This little village of approximately 1,047  has a total of 6 marinas which line the river.

We walked out on one of the marinas and were greeted by this little seagull.

The below photo shows what  looked to be a private boat dock.

Walking around the marina we saw a lot of evidence of successful fishing.

My husband spotted these two big birds sitting down on the dock and I am so glad he did.  Their colors blended in with the dock and they might not have caught my eye.  They were a good distance away, but I had my telephoto lens and was able to get fairly close photos.   I have lived in Florida most of my life and have never seen a Pelican this close.

Pelicans are a large water bird.  They catch fish in their large throat pouch.  It is empty now and therefore hard to see.  They live close to coastal waters where they know they can always find breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Evidence shows that pelicans very similar to these have existed for at least 30 million years.

He or maybe she looked like he was posing for this photo.

It was a beautiful afternoon for visiting and fishing.

We passed by Steinhatchee Landing.

This picturesque church in the below photo is what caught our eye as we were driving by.

All of the windows were so beautiful.

Apparently there are a lot of weddings that take place in this beautiful little church.  It is called the Dancing Waters Chapel.  It has a seating capacity for 125 and as you can see has 12-foot high stained glass windows.  The church was closed, but I sure would have loved to see it on the inside,  to see the stained glass with the sun shining in through all those colors.

There was a very small cemetery right beside the church, with one angel keeping watch.

 

We later discovered this is a resort with 1-to-4 bedroom rentals.    The below photo is one of the houses for rent at the resort. 

If you would like to see more information,  this is the website I found for the resort:  

http://www.steinhatcheelanding.com/

The below photo shows other rental cabins.

We spotted this old truck at the resort, and I could not resist getting a photo.  How about that pretty yellow color!

As we were driving through the little town, we spotted this pretty home. I just love old houses, especially what I call "Old Florida" cracker, cottage type houses.  Or, you could call them Old Florida/Georgia style.  I love the white with the black shutters.  Actually, that may be a very light blue color on the house.

The sun was beginning to set, and we were getting hungry, so we started to look for a restaurant.  There were a few restaurants in town and it was hard to choose.  A seafood restaurant usually catches our eye and this one looked like it would be good.  So, we stopped in and we were not disappointed.

Well!  That was our Sunday afternoon drive down to the coast and it was delightful.  Thank you for coming along with us and we hope you enjoyed visiting Steinhatchee.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend,  and also hope all is well with you,  wherever you may be.