Reconstruction
The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company built a lumber mill in 1868 on Atsena Otie Key to supply wood for its pencil factory in New Jersey. The area revived as a shipping port and much lumber was milled.
By the 1870s the oyster, green turtle, and fishing industries had also grown on the island. By the 1890s lumber production was making a profit of almost $900,000, and the Farber Mill alone produced more than a third of a million pencils. The town grew as well, and by 1895 there were more than 50 households back living on the island.
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