ISLAND POND ONE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: early 1880s

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Island Pond One was formed out of land owned by Jackson Knight, through the Homestead Act. Jack or Jackson Knight, along with a group of former slaves from the William Shelton Delk "plantation" from Apopka, Florida settled in this area after the end of the Civil War. They named this area Island Pond. Property records show two cemeteries and a church, the Island Pond Primitive Baptist Church, existed on adjacent parcels. Over time the lands were sold off piece by piece. These early residents contributed significantly to the creation of and the economy of nearby communities of Mount Dora, Sorrento, and Eustis. In 2009, two women from Fort Pierce came to Lake County, Florida, researching their family history. Their persistence paid off and they registered two cemeteries on the Florida Master Site File, Island Pond One and Island Pond Two. In 2023 a nonprofit was formed to aid in the research, restoration, and preservation of the two cemeteries. In January of 2024, a committee working on behalf of the Division of Historical Resources selected our grant application for funding from the Abandoned African American Cemeteries Grant Program. We are awaiting the legislature's approval for the requested funding for the project.

BCN Contact Information:

Katherine de Jongh

katherine.dejongh@aol.com

SUNSET MEMORIAL CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1917

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S):

• City of Jacksonville (COJ) Parks and Recreation Department

• COJ Public Works Department

HISTORY:

Sunset Memorial Cemetery is an historic African American Cemetery in the northwest part of Duval County, Florida. Sunset Memorial Cemetery is surrounded by commercial uses along Edgewood Avenue West, Memorial Cemetery directly across Moncrief Road and a mixture of commercial, residential and institutional uses to the north. The cemetery was established in 1917 by the Memorial Cemetery Association, although it was never platted and may have been used for burials as early as 1909. The cemetery is affiliated with the Afro American Life Insurance Company, which was instrumental in fulfilling an unmet need of additional burial options for Jacksonville’s black community. The cemetery is a total of 6.25 acres in size and contains 1,125 grave markers, and it was used for burials up until the late 1990s, with the last recorded burial in 1997.

The African-Americans buried at Sunset Memorial were predominantly middle class and working class citizens, although prominent black citizens, including Abraham Lincoln Lewis, founder of the Afro American Life Insurance Company, are also buried here. The most common monuments and markers found at the cemetery include headstones of various styles (499), flat lid and curved vault lids (71), variations of pillows stones (66) and ground tablets (38). Two prominent mausoleums, the Craddock and Langley mausoleums, are situated near the main entrance of the cemetery. Other styles which are found in much less number, include bedstead, bedstead pillow, footstones and funeral plaques. Materials include predominately marble (335), concrete (235) and granite (85). There are 233 military graves including three piles of military headstones never placed. Several additional unmarked graves are also present at the cemetery due to weathering, deterioration, neglect, and vandalism that has taken place over time, although a precise number of these unmarked graves is not known.

BCN Contact Information:

Andrew Mueller

Archives Specialist, Historic Preservation Section

AMueller@coj.net

LAKE MAUDE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1924

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S):

• Florence Villa Community Association (FVCA)

HISTORY:

Lake Maude Cemetery (LMC) is the oldest African American burial grounds in Winter Haven, FL. Local historic figures as well as common folk have been laid to rest in the cemetery. The grounds are in need of locating and identification of unmarked gravesites; cleaning and repair of tombstones and other grave coverings/ markings; and, clearing top soil and brush to reveal grave sites. Records suggest that some human remains were laid to rest in cemetery driveways once the cemetery plots were exhausted. The impact of FVCA (Florence Villa Comm Assoc) commitment to revitalize the cemetery is far reaching as citizens of Winter Haven and those from afar will be able to visit marked graves of those long passed on. The burial grounds will be transformed from an eye sore to a place of solace.

BCN Contact Information:

Robert Frazier

fvcainc2016@gmail.com

MAPLE GROVE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1901

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

On June 19, 1901, Articles of Incorporation for the Richmond Colored Cemetery Company were signed and filed with the Madison County Court. Four African American men, Private Grandson Boggs, BP Langford, Thomas H. Broaddus and John L. Francis filed the document to be effective July 1st, 1901 for the purpose of conducting business as a cemetery for 50 years on the site.

Maple Grove Cemetery is the largest African American cemetery in Richmond and is located at the corner of East Main and Spring Streets. Additional land was added in 1910 and also several years later.

There are over 1700 grave stones and many unidentified gravesites within the cemetery. There are over 250 Military members interred in the cemetery (Buffalo Soldiers – Spanish American War, United States Colored Troops, US Navy – Messmen, Seaman and Reservist, US Army Air Corp/US Army - Tuskegee Airmen and support staff, U S Army Reservist, Marines, U S Coast Guard member and 2 female military members).

We know that this land was used as a burial place many years earlier than 1901 because the earliest stone is of Sarah Clay dated 1889.

The name of Maple Grove is also a mystery, this land has no formal document that contain that name. Richmond citizens have always referred to the cemetery as Maple Grove but the description does not refer to that name.

Many individuals and groups have maintained the cemetery over the many years. Much history has been uncovered about the people, places and occupations of the many individuals interred in the cemetery. The current caretaker – The Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery have placed historical markers at over 67 gravesites and researched their contributions to Richmond and Madison County.

The Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery, INC was established in October 2020 as a non-profit corporation, operates exclusively as a 501 (c)(3) to provide for perpetual care and maintenance of Maple Grove Cemetery. The Corporation is governed by 11 Board members and is solely supported by donations.

BCN Contact Information:

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MOUNT PEACE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1900

ADDITONAL NAMES: Mount Peace Cemetery Association

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

Established in 1900, Mount Peace Cemetery is a historic African American community burial place located in Lawnside, Camden County, NJ. No longer an active burying ground, Mount Peace is the final resting place of 7,000 people, including freedom seekers, 135 United States Colored Troop Civil War veterans, and Reverend Alexander Heritage Newton, whose 1917 autobiography, Out of the Briars describes his assistance to freedom seeker H.E. Bryan on his journey from New Bern, North Carolina.

A non-sectarian cemetery, Mount Peace served the African American population of Camden County, New Jersey from 1900 until 2010. Today it is maintained by the Mount Peace Cemetery Association. Mount Peace Cemetery is located in a historically African American enclave with roots into the early 19th Century and is significant to the Underground Railroad. Nineteenth century references to this unincorporated community called it Free Haven and Snow Hill. This was a place of settlement of freedom seekers in these early years. By the 1830s an AME Church was established there. The area was formally incorporated as Lawnside in 1907. The Mount Peace Cemetery and Funeral Directing Company was established in 1900 to provide the African American population of the City of Camden, New Jersey and surrounding communities appropriate and respectful burial of their dead.

BCN Contact Information:

Dolly Marshall

contact@mtpeacecemeteryassociation.org

https://www.mtpeacecemeteryassociation.org

NEW GOLDEN GROVE METHODIST CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1875

ADDITONAL NAMES: Golden Grove Chapel

AFFILIATION(S):

• Friends of African American Cemeteries

• Churches Upstate SC

HISTORY:

A historically Black neighborhood on the outskirts of the Piedmont Mill village, can be found nestled in rolling hills near the Saluda River. It is located to the northeast from the former site of the Piedmont Manufacturing Co., across the train tracks. Golden Grove Chapel cemetery is the only extant site of a late 19th century through early 20th century, Black community located near the Piedmont Mill Village community. Many of the people who belonged to the church and are buried in the cemetery, had been associated with Piedmont Manufacturing Co. The parcel is associated with African American ethnic heritage and social history. It provides a glimpse of a community that contributed significantly to the development of the Piedmont Manufacturing Co. and mill village community yet has never been included in any historical survey or narrative. The distinct cultural line is literally separated by railroad tracks This historic district includes a cemetery, the primary contributing resource, including 20 contributing objects and 3 noncontributing objects.

While many of the burials include former mill laborers who contributed significantly to the construction and daily operations of the Piedmont Manufacturing Co., other burials provide extant information of people who moved here to work for the railroad and the mill.

By 1880 the population of African Americans. Piedmont Manufacturing Co. laid its 1st stone in 1874 which was the lynchpin to a population boom in Piedmont. While New Golden Grove cemetery was not the only burial place for Black people in Piedmont, it has always allowed people to be buried here who could not afford burial elsewhere or did not have a church home. This was a mission church at heart. This site retains much of its historical integrity as it has retained much of the material, feeling, and association common in African American cemeteries. The cemetery has a wide variety of funerary art and landscape features traditional to African American burials. Vegetation such as periwinkle, daffodils, and large cedar trees are used as grave markers, along with the traditional headstones and field stones. The grave markers are as diverse as the people buried here. They include old and new funeral home cards, field stones, ledgers, pedestal tomb-vaulted roof, and many governments issued headstones. The burials are clustered in some areas, yet uniform rows can be found, indicating they adopted some of European American burial practices.

The property was deeded to the trustees, of Golden Grove Chapel of the Methodist Episcopal Church on December 21st, 1875, by Mrs. Henrietta Shockley after paying twenty dollars. The trustees were Henry Kirksey, Sawney Westfield, and David Richardson. The deed stated the property can only be used for school and church purposes

BCN Contact Information:

Christina Griswold

cgriswold120@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/UpstateAfricanAmericanCemeteriesandChurchesSC

NORTH GREENWOOD CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Early 1900's and 1940's

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Clearwater African American Cemeteries Memorial Committee

HISTORY:

North Greenwood Cemetery is located in Clearwater, FL. The City of Clearwater Commission approved annexation allowing Palmetto Elementary School (opened in 1964) to be built over the North Greenwood Cemetery; this annexation comes after the partial relocation of bodies from St. Matthews Baptist Church Cemetery (located under what is now the CRUM parking lot in Clearwater, FL) to the North Greenwood Cemetery site. Current Ground Truthing performed by Cardno reveals not all bodies were moved.

BCN Contact Information:

Barbara Sorey Love

stpetebulletin@gmail.com