OAK TREE UNION COLORED CEMETERY OF TAYLORVILLE (AKA OLD GROVELAND CEMETERY)

FOUNDED: Between 1895-1900

ADDITONAL NAMES: Old Groveland Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

This African American Cemetery is believed to have been established between 1895 and 1900, which is around the time the first African Americans came to the Groveland (Taylorville) area to work the citrus groves, turpentine stills, lumber industry and has been abandoned for approximately 70 years. The original name of the cemetery is “Oak Tree Union Colored Cemetery of Taylorville” and is also known locally as “Old Groveland Cemetery”, as the City of Taylorville changed its name to Groveland in 1922. Burials are believed to have stopped sometime in 1951 and it is also believed that there may be 70 or more black residents interred in this 1 ¼ acre site. Several of the headstones that could be found our WWI Veterans who were buried here in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Several of those interred were also members of the Knights of Pythias, an organization dedicated to peace and the belief that any two men who believe in a Supreme Being, can live together in peace and harmony.

Prior to 1922, when Groveland was known as Taylorville, African Americans contributed to the area’s economic wealth by harvesting citrus and turpentine. During this time, the turpentine and lumber industries grew extensively thanks to the arduous work of many African Americans who were unable to find work in surrounding areas due to racial discrimination. Around 1899, Groveland business icon, Elliot Edge brought African American families to the City, who heavily supported Groveland’s economy through their labor in these industries and whose resilience would help them uphold Groveland’s economy during the Great Depression in the 1920s. Among Edge’s notable African American workers are the Gadsden’s, Blue’s, and Hart families, whose contributions to Taylorville (Groveland) have been memorialized in the form of city streets named after them. Our cemetery project team has found grave markers that lead us to believe these historical individuals and possibly their descendants may have been interred there. Former Groveland Councilman John Griffin’s uncle, Samuel Griffin, a World War I veteran, is buried in this cemetery.

BCN Contact Information:

Kevin Carroll

kevin.carroll@groveland-fl.gov