Florida Family Getaways - 2008 - (Page 8) water STEINHATCHEE by Chelle Koster Walton Children fishing in the river during the fall season. River time Families find easy pleasures down by the Steinhatchee T he 10 or so families in Jim Henley’s Steinhatchee neighborhood own one wheelbarrow. Collectively. It’s not that they can’t afford their own: Steinhatchee is home to both affluent residents and hard-working folk. “We decided we probably only needed one wheelbarrow in the neighborhood,” says Jim in his transplanted-Georgia accent. “So whoever needs it, uses it and keeps it until someone else needs it.” Some of his neighbors are citified weekenders with “real jobs,” says Jim, a fishing and scalloping charter captain. Jim and the other neighbors keep the weekenders’ lawns trimmed for them so that they can relax and have fun when they visit. The big draw to this small town of about 2,500, set alongside the Steinhatchee River where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico, is the summer scallops. Jim and a battery of other guides take people a mile offshore to find scallops in the shallow waters around Florida’s “Big Bend” region, where the state begins its spread westward. Great historical figures like Panfilo de Narvaez, Hernando de Soto and Andrew Jackson all crossed the Steinhatchee River at “The Falls,” where flatbed rock accommodated many a horse-drawn wagon back when the town was known first as Deadman Bay and later as Stephensville. Today, a pleasant park marks the Falls spot, between U.S. 19 and today’s Steinhatchee (pronounced STEEN-ha-chee). Water is central to Steinhatchee, and the town is best enjoyed from the river that runs through it. Homes with boats parked at their docks, salty seafood restaurants and lowimpact resorts such as Steinhatchee Landing and Sea Hag Marina & Motel line the river on the Steinhatchee side, which is in Taylor County. Across the water, the town of Jena 8 VISITFLORIDA.com/family http://VISITFLORIDA.com/family
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