Istachatta, Florida

Istachatta is a small hamlet of probably 350 souls, its located in central Florida, surrounded by the Withlacoochee State Forest and nestled beside the beautiful Withlacoochee River. A winding asphalt road lined with huge live oak trees draped with spanish moss wends its way thru the center of town. It has seen better times, in 1926 Seaboard Coastline built a railroad thru central Florida and Istachatta had its own train depot, the railroad was abandoned and a bike trail now takes its place. Istachatta has three churches, a small trailer park and its own small post office. There has been a general store in town, it seems like forever, different owners have tried having a restaurant in conjunction with store , but the last one failed due to poor management I think.

A new gal recently showed up in town, lets call her Jane, if you've ever heard of the group- "Back Street Boys" , Jane is the mother of Nick, a member of that band. Jane has leased the old store and will attempt to open the restaurant again. She has named the place-"The Blue Canoe", and a blue canoe sits on the lawn near the door. She serves breakfast, lunch and dinners. She has a fairly large and varied menu and on weekends she has a fish fry, during the fish fry, local musicians play country and bluegrass music. I wish her the best in her new undertaking and so far, as more people learn of her re-opening, she is gaining new customers every day.

P.S. The lady next to the Post office sign is my lovely wife, Marilyn.