SITE DIRECTORY
To learn more about any of the BCN sites listed below, click “Read more” to view individual site briefs. To search for a specific BCN site, use the search bar below:
Historic Saint Peter Cemetery
Historic Saint Peter Cemetery
FOUNDED: 1840s
ADDITIONAL NAMES: St. Peter Cemetery
AFFILIATION(S):
Saint Peter Missionary Baptist Church
Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church
Saint Peter & Saint Paul Community Council
Alachua County Community Remembrance Project
HISTORY: The Historic St. Peter Cemetery of Archer, Florida, has functioned as a vital sanctuary for the Archer Black community for nearly two centuries. According to oral history, the property has been used as burial grounds by Black families since the 1840s, well before the emancipation of enslaved people. The St. Peter Missionary Baptist Church was founded and dedicated in 1878, and more land was donated in the 1880s, which formally established the cemetery. Several generations of the original community’s descendants still reside in the area. They continue to visit and care for the cemetery, which stands as a legacy of those who founded the surrounding neighborhood prior to the end of slavery. The Alachua County Historical Commission has documented nearly 500 graves in the cemetery. It is the final resting ground for formerly enslaved individuals, war veterans, community leaders. Notably, the grounds serve as the final resting place for those who fled the tragic Rosewood Massacre of 1923. The oldest African American women’s organization in the county, the Female Protective Society, has cared for the cemetery since its establishment in 1904.
The site is formally designated as an official Florida Heritage Site, ensuring its long-term preservation and protection. This historic site serves as a profound monument to generations of local African American history. The St. Peter Cemetery of Archer Florida Historical Marker (Marker Number F-1163) was officially unveiled and dedicated on October 22, 2022. The cemetery is located at the intersection of Southwest 170th Street (County Route 241) and Southwest 83rd Avenue in rural unincorporated Archer, Florida.
BCN Contact Information:
Gerie R. Crawford
Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Cemetery (AL06910)
BETHLEHEM METHODIST EPISCOPAL CEMETERY (AL06910)
FOUNDED: 1873
ADDITONAL NAMES: None
AFFILIATION(S):
FPAN CRPT Alliance
HISTORY:
Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church and Cemetery were established in 1873, when Rev. Major Reddick donated one acre of land to Romeo Reddick, Rinaldo Reddick, Major Reddick, Henry Peterson, Adam Moulton, Richard Doby and Arthur Haynes, trustees. The land was part of a parcel awarded to Reddick through the 1862 Homestead Act. Archer, originally called Deer Hammock, became an economic hub for local plantations, especially after the cross-Florida railroad was built in the 1850s. Sen. David Levy Yulee’s Cottonwood was the most well known of these plantations. At least 25 African Americans who had once been enslaved were interred in the cemetery. Elbert McKinney Sr., born in 1829 in South Carolina, was buried here. McKinney, an enslaved blacksmith at Cottonwood, daily blew a ram’s horn to call the enslaved laborers to work. Ellen Lawrence, born ~1796 and died at the age of 88 in 1884, has the earliest marked grave in the cemetery. James Dansey homesteaded 39.98 acres to the east of Reddick’s donation, but sold the parcel to Rev. Frank Dansey in 1881. Dansey, founder of St. Joseph’s Missionary Baptist Church, began to use 1.28 acres nearest the Reddick donation for burials. Rev. Dansey was buried here in 1911.
BCN Contact Information:
Florida Public Archaeology Network, Central Region
snrudolph@usf.edu