Dixie County, Florida: A Local Guide for Home Buyers and Homeowners

Cross City

Cross City is the county seat and calls itself the “Biggest Little Town in Dixie.” It incorporated in 1924, and the town runs its own water, sewer and garbage service from Town Hall at 99 NE 210 Avenue.

County offices are spread around town: the Tax Collector at 214 NE 351 Hwy, the school district’s administrative complex at 815 SE Highway 351, the tourism office at 56 NE 210 Ave., and the SHIP office at 314 NE 255th St.

Cross City Airport

The Army Air Forces took over the Cross City airport in August 1942 and ran it as Cross City Army Airfield until the war ended. It went back to civil use afterward and is a county-owned public airport with two paved runways of 5,001 and 5,005 feet, a short drive from town and from the coast.

Horseshoe Beach

Horseshoe Beach incorporated in 1963 and sits right on the Gulf. Butler Douglas Memorial Park, at 244 8th Ave W, is named for the town’s founders and faces west over the water, with a two-lane boat ramp, a courtesy dock, about 20 trailer spaces and RV sites with electric.

The ramp gets crowded in scallop season and on holiday weekends.

Suwannee

Suwannee sits on the river at the center of the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. Water and sewer come from the Suwannee Water & Sewer District, which the county commission created in 1994, with its office at 825 SE 327th Street.

Old Town

Old Town is where SR 349 leaves US 19 and heads north to Lafayette County. The Nature Coast State Trail’s Old Town Trailhead is next to the red steel Historic Suwannee River Railroad Bridge, and the old Old Town Elementary School building is now the Dixie County Cultural Center.

Jena

The county lists Jena next to Horseshoe Beach as a holiday spot, and the Jena Unit of the Big Bend Wildlife Management Area is open for hunting and fishing.

Dixie County SHIP (Suwannee River Economic Council)

The Suwannee River Economic Council takes SHIP applications at 314 NE 255th St. in Cross City, 352-498-5018, for down payment and closing cost help as well as emergency repairs and rehabilitation.

The county’s housing plan sets SHIP purchase help as a 0% deferred loan that’s forgiven a portion at a time while you keep the home, with award sizes tied to household income and a price cap on the home. Awards go first qualified, first served.

Those award sizes and the price cap get rewritten with each county plan, and what’s left in a given month depends on how many buyers have already been funded. Before you go house hunting along US 19, call 888-601-8344 and we’ll ask the Suwannee River Economic Council what Dixie SHIP pays and whether it’s taking purchase files for your address.

Dixie County housing plan

Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)

Florida Hometown Heroes is a Florida Housing purchase program: a 30-year fixed first mortgage plus a 0% second for the down payment and closing costs. The second has no monthly payment and isn’t forgiven. You repay it when you sell, refinance or pay off the home, or when you stop living in it.

At least one buyer must work full time for an eligible Florida-based employer in health care, K-12 schools, first response, public safety, the courts or licensed child care. In Dixie County, an active-duty service member qualifies with any employer, while a veteran or a Reserve or National Guard member needs to work full time for a Florida-based employer. It pairs with FHA, VA, USDA and Conventional first mortgages, and a homebuyer education course is part of it.

Florida Housing assistance is a once in a lifetime benefit, so it should go on the right Dixie County house with the right lender. Funds are reserved loan by loan and limits vary by county, so call us first and we’ll check what Hometown Heroes will cover on the home you have in mind.

Official program page

FL Assist and HFA Preferred / HFA Advantage (statewide)

FL Assist is a 0% Florida Housing second for the down payment and closing costs with no monthly payment. It’s repaid when you sell, refinance, transfer the home or move out, and it rides behind a Florida Housing first mortgage: FHA, VA, USDA or Conventional HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage.

HFA Advantage PLUS puts a Freddie Mac Conventional first together with a second that’s forgiven over 5 years while you live in the home. FL HLP is the other second, with a small fixed monthly payment over 30 years.

Which second works best depends on the loan and the house, and Florida Housing changes what each one pays. Call us with the Cross City, Old Town or coastal address and we’ll run the options side by side.

Official program page

Schools and colleges

Public schools are run by Dixie District Schools, with its administrative complex at 815 SE Highway 351 in Cross City and a main number of (352) 541-6250.

Florida Gateway College serves Dixie as one of its five district counties, along with Baker, Columbia, Gilchrist and Union. Students drive to its main campus in Lake City.

Roads and trails

US 19/98 and Alt. US 27, signed together as SR 55, is the county’s main road, running from the Suwannee River bridge on the Levy and Gilchrist line to the Steinhatchee River bridge on the Taylor line. SR 349 runs north from Old Town to Lafayette County.

The 32-mile paved Nature Coast State Trail links Cross City with Trenton, Fanning Springs and Chiefland, with its three spokes meeting at Wilcox Junction.

Gornto Springs

This county park at 2463 NE 816 Ave is built around a second-magnitude spring on the Suwannee that stays near 72 degrees. The swimming hole runs about 30 to 40 feet wide and 125 feet long, and the park has a boat ramp, 14 waterfront RV sites and 5 tent sites.

Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge was established on April 10, 1979, and takes in 20 miles of the Suwannee River and 30 miles of Gulf coastal marsh along the southern edge of the Big Bend. Gulf sturgeon, shorebirds, wading birds and waterfowl all depend on it, and county tourism counts more than 300 bird species across Dixie.

Nature Coast State Trail

Ride or walk the paved rail-trail across the red steel Historic Suwannee River Railroad Bridge east of the Old Town Trailhead. An equestrian path runs beside about 4.5 miles of it between Old Town and Fanning Springs.

Scallops and Gulf fishing

County tourism lists dozens of charter captains, and some run inshore fishing and scalloping trips out of Good Times Marina. Back at Horseshoe Beach, Butler Douglas Memorial Park has an open view west for the sunset.

Hunting land and back roads

The Jena Unit of Big Bend WMA and Log Landing WMA, managed by the Suwannee River Water Management District, are listed by county tourism for hunting and fishing. Overlanders run the Dixie Mainline Trail near Old Town, the Road to Nowhere and the Bowlegs Mainline Loop, and Hinton Landing is another county park on the list.

A steamboat under the Suwannee

The steamboat City of Hawkinsville lies on the bottom of the Suwannee near Old Town, and the wreck is one of the Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserves.

Buying a home

FHA is the usual starting point for Dixie County buyers: 3.5% down with a 580 or higher credit score, and it works hand in hand with the SHIP loan and the state seconds. Eligible veterans can buy with a VA loan and no down payment, and we also offer Conventional loans, Hometown Heroes and FHA 100% financing.

AAA Capital Funding has held a Florida mortgage broker license since 1997 and closes loans statewide in all 67 Florida counties, the Big Bend included. We shop your loan with several wholesale lenders and tell you your number before you start looking at houses in Cross City or on the coast.

Refinancing the home you have

A refinance on a Dixie County home can lower the payment, put cash in your hands to rebuild or raise the house after a storm, pay off credit cards, or buy out a co-owner on the deed. Your equity can do that work.

Call 888-601-8344, tell us your balance and rate, and we’ll lay the refinance numbers next to what you pay now: the new payment, the cash out and every closing cost.