SITE DIRECTORY
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Island Pond Two
ISLAND POND TWO CEMETERY
FOUNDED: UNKNOWN
ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A
AFFILIATION(S):
Island Pond Cemetery Project
HISTORY:
Property Alt Key: 2582529. The land where this cemetery is located was part of an original land grant from 1884 belonging to Burrell Reese. Burrell and his family were enslaved in the Apopka area before the Civil War. Burrell's land was adjacent to his son-in-law, Jackson Knight's land. Both Burrell and Jackson have cemeteries located in the southwest corners of their original land grants. According to some death certificates, the cemetery on Jackson's land was named Island Pond Cemetery. In 2009 when Margaret Reese-Williams began searching for her family history and located both cemeteries, she registered them on the Florida Master Site File. She heard that Island Pond One was no longer used when it became full. That is when more burials occurred at the other site. Margaret gave the official name of Island Pond 2 to the cemetery on Burrell Reese's land. Property records show that the Island Pond 2 site, which is 5 acres, was owned in the 1940s by the Sorrento Burial Society. Today it is held by a private landowner who has applied for a family lot split so that homes may be built on the two plots. This site has had grave markers removed over the years and heavy equipment was brought on to do clearing as recently as 2023. The current property owner is not cooperating with efforts to preserve and protect the cemetery.
BCN Contact Information:
Katherine de Jongh & Margaret Reese-Williams
ELMWMP@COMCAST.NET
Island Pond One
ISLAND POND ONE CEMETERY
FOUNDED: early 1880s
ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A
AFFILIATION(S):
Island Pond Cemetery Project
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