Dixie/Gilchrest/Levy Counties

Home Sweet Home    Find a Realtor    Find a Company    Vital Stats    Rain & Shine    Job Market    Class Notes    Getting Around

Great Outdoors    Good Sports    Hot Times    Shop 'til You Drop    Nightlife    College Scene    Just for Seniors

Home Sweet Home

"The tri-county area's greatest draw is the quality of life that a rural setting offers, together with clean, outdoor recreation," says the Dixie-Gilchrist-Levy Counties Board of Realtors. Real estate--whether single-family, mobile home or acreage is quite affordable here. Currently the median sales price for a single-family existing home in the tri-county area is about $70,000. For that amount, a home buyer can expect to find a three-bedroom, two-bath home of approximately 1,500 square feet. Single-family homes represent 50 percent of the tri-county real estate market. Typically, they range in price from $45,000 to $125,000, while mobile homes, also popular in the area, range from $20,000 to $60,000. Condominiums are rare here--perhaps only 2 or 3 percent of the market. Although no new developments are under construction, new and existing waterfront and new and existing golf course properties are available in the region.

Vital Stats

Population: 58,546
Median age: 39.5 Dixie; 34.3 Gilchrist; 42.9 Levy
New citizens forecast 1,780 per year
New job creation: NA
Unemployment rate: 4.7 percent Dixie; 3.8 percent Gilchrist; 3.1 percent Levy (August, 1999)
Cost of living: 92.37 Dixie; 93.23 Gilchrist; 91.71 Levy on Florida Price Level Index (state average=100)
Per capita income: $13,171 Dixie; $113,378 Gilchrist; $14,616 Levy
Median effective household buying income: $20,367 Dixie; $26,825 Gilchrist; $23,779 Levy

Rain & Shine

The average temperature in coastal Dixie County is 55 degrees Fahrenheit in January and 81 degrees Fahrenheit in August. Rainfall averages 58.20 inches yearly. In neighboring but inland Gilchrist County, the climate is about the same: 54.76 inches of annual rain on average, a January average temperature of 56 degrees Fahrenheit and an August average temperature of 81 degrees Fahrenheit. Also on the Gulf of Mexico, Levy County, just south of Dixie, has 45.30 inches of rain annually. Temperatures in Levy County are similar: they average 82 degrees Fahrenheit in August and almost 58 degrees Fahrenheit in January. Moderate and mild, this section of Florida gets an occasional freeze. On very rare days, the temperature might dip down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit

Job Market

The major private employers in sparsely populated Dixie County are timber companies. The beaches are far from typical, and the few tourists who visit Dixie County do so primarily to hunt and fish. The top private employers are Suwannee Lumber Company. (180), Georgia Pacific Corp. (110), Knight's Sawmill. (81), Cross City Veneer. (65), Anderson Columbia Construction. (60) and Rick's Seafood. (35).

Gilchrist is the smallest in size and the youngest in age of all Florida's 67 counties. It's still primarily rural with lots of watermelon crops and plenty of dairy farmers. Almost named Melon by the county's few citizens, it became Gilchrist because the Legislature wished to honor a prominent politician who had just died when the county was approved by the state government. Major private employers include Ayers Health & Rehabilitation (120), North Florida Holsteins (110) Tri-County Health Center (78), Alliance Dairy (70), Aurora Dairies (60), Kincaid Products (60) and Hilltop Dairy (55).

Levy County jobs come from several sources: Timber and agriculture provide some of the business base, but so does retail, banking, construction and tourism in season (February through April) when the population of popular but laid-back Cedar Key doubles. Major employers include the school board and the county government. Major private employers are White Construction (496), Monterey Boats (358), Oakview Rehabilitation & Care (160), Nature Coast Regional Hospital (110), A & N Corporation (94), Central Florida Electric Co-Op (92), Whitehurst Construction (90) and Perkins State Bank (85).

Class Notes

Extensive information about the schools in this area is online at the state's Department of Education (http://www.firn.edu/doe/doehome.htm). There you'll discover everything you'll need to know about Florida schools -- in general and in particular. All you need is the name of your county and the names of the schools students from your neighborhood attend.

Use links from the DOE home page for general information about entrance requirements, immunizations and so forth.

For the nitty-gritty details that really matter, click on the logo for the "Florida School Indicators Report."

You'll need a car. Distances aren't great because none of the counties is terribly large. Nevertheless, you'll probably have a ways to go for shopping, schools, supplies, entertainment, sports activities and social events. The counties have one road in common: U.S. Highway 19 travels through all three counties primarily in a south/southeasterly direction on its way from Tallahassee down to Tampa Bay. State Road 24 links interior Gainesville in Alachua County to Cedar Key in Levy County on its south/southwest path. On the map, U.S. 19 and S.R. 24 make a big X, but lots of smaller roads serve the region as well.

Gainesville Regional Airport is about 40 to 60 miles away from most municipalities in the tri-county area. A local landing strip for small planes is in Cross City, county seat of Dixie County. Florida West Coast Railroad and various trucking firms haul freight. Although not positioned on any major highways, the tri-county area's extensive nature preserves are safer ecologically speaking for this potential shortcoming. It really all depends on what you value most, convenience or wilderness. You won't get both in equal measure anywhere, certainly not here in what some call Florida's Nature Coast. Interstate highways 75 and 10 aren't far away and both connect to urban areas and superhighways all over the state and the country.

Great Outdoors

Enormous stretches of Dixie, Gilchrist and Levy counties are protected by government preserves, private conservation groups and private hunting clubs. These wilderness areas include the Steinhatchee Wildlife Management Area in Dixie County, the Suwannee River Water Management District lands, the Waccasassa Flats section of Gilchrist County, the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge in Dixie and Levy counties and the Goethe State Forest, the Cedar Key Scrub State Preserve and the Waccasassa Bay State Preserve, all in Levy County. As a result, much of the area is virtually inaccessible except by those with precise directions and permission from property owners. Some areas are essentially off limits. Some are attainable by boat but not by roads, even primitive ones. Yet human ingenuity has created many enjoyable ways to view the wildlife and the wilderness it inhabits without disturbing natural treasures unnecessarily. One good way is tubing down the Ichetucknee River's famous four-mile tubing run that takes about four hours to enjoy. It sounds tame, and it's definitely a slow way to travel, but it's fun and cool and kids enjoy it as much as their parents. Another comfortable way for families to enjoy the sights of eagles, herons, alligators and otters, is to rent a houseboat and travel up the Suwannee from the Gulf of Mexico into the pristine interior.

Good Sports

For hunting, fishing and diving, its hard to beat this part of Florida. A number of large hunting clubs provide ample opportunity for hunting deer, wild hogs, squirrel, ducks and wild turkeys. With the Suwannee, Santa Fe, Ichetucknee, Steinhatchee, Waccasassa and Withlachochee rivers and many wetlands and coastal areas beckoning fishermen, its not surprising that fishing is popular in the tri-county area. More than half of Florida's 320 springs are along the Suwannee River--some with romantic names like Devil's Den and Blue Grotto. Divers travel to Manatee Springs, Ginnie Springs, Hart Springs and dive sites near Branford from all around the country and the world. Some enjoy exploring the City of Hawkinsville Underwater Archaeological Preserve--what's left of a sunken paddlewheel steamer--near Old Town.

Collegiate sports fans like it here, too, because it's a short trip to see Florida State's Seminoles play in Tallahassee or the University of Florida (UF) Gators compete in Gainesville. Both schools are great in football and almost always ranked in the Top 10 nationally, but they're also very good in other major and most minor sports. UF, for example, has put together top-ranked swimming, diving and golf teams. Local kids enjoy Little League competition, tennis and swimming. Many youth sports and athletic opportunities are connected with school or church activities.

Hot Times in the City

This is the probably the quietest part of Florida. Citizens like it that way. If you want to escape to peace and quiet, or even to isolation and anonymity, this area will suit you. It's a good place to write and paint--or hunt and fish. But if you want to party hardy and plenty, look elsewhere. For social life, plan to create your own fun; invite friends over for a party or picnic, and get involved with a church or community organization.

Cedar Key in coastal Levy County was once the end-point of a trans-Florida railroad and a strategic location for transportation and naval/shipping activities during the Civil War. After the Civil War, it was one of Florida's most important towns, but it never recovered after being leveled by a hurricane in 1896. Remnants of its historic past are visible at the Cedar Key Historical Society Museum and the Cedar Key State Museum.

Shop 'til You Drop

Shopping isn't a problem unless you move in without your household furniture and goods. It's not a good place to start from scratch because getting to shopping outlets and getting items delivered can be a hassle. On the other hand, commercialism is so far from rampant it's almost non-existent.

Nightlife

A smattering of bars, hunting camps and fish camps provide most of the tri-county's nightlife. Folks here get up early to work, fish or hunt. Staying out late happens, but its the exception, rather than a rule. Several good seafood restaurants on Cedar Key and some home-cooking type cafes provide some choices for dining out, but very few.

College Scene

With maybe 60,000 people living in the tri-county area, the population isn't sufficient to support many post-secondary schools. Dixie County operates a Vo-Tech Center and an Adult Education Center. In Levy County, Bronson houses an extension center of Central Florida Community College. Gilchrist County provides bus service to Lake City Community College, a two-year coed school supported by public funds. It's about 40 miles north of most of the population centers. Santa Fe Community College (Gainesville), Central Florida Community College (Ocala) and North Florida Community College (Madison) aren't far either, but staying at home for the first two years of college will require some committed commuting. Several major, state four-year institutions are close at hand: the University of Florida, about an hour's drive--or less--from the region. Additionally, the University of North Florida in Jacksonville (probably 75 to 100 miles northeast), considers its mission to serve this section of North Florida, and Florida State University is northwest of the tri-county area, but not very far away (perhaps 75 to 100 miles northwest).

Just for Seniors

To locate senior services such as homemakers, home-delivered meals and respite care, call the Information and Referral (I&R) specialists who staff the Senior Helplines in each county. For Dixie County, call 352/498-1280; in Gilchrist County, dial 352/463-3160; in Levy County, try 352/493-6700.