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

OLD MT. HERMAN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1880

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S):

• City of Jacksonville (COJ) Parks and Recreation Department

• COJ Public Works Department

HISTORY:

Old Mt. Herman Cemetery is one of the oldest African-American cemeteries in Jacksonville. In the present day only vestiges of the cemetery still exist. Almost all of the grave markers have either deteriorated or have been removed, as the property it lies on was converted into a community park and center (Emmett Reed Center) in the late1960s. The cemetery was developed as a plot about the size of 12.5 acres around 1880 to serve the growing black population of LaVilla, Brooklyn, New Town, and Durkeeville, Jacksonville suburbs located just north and west of the city core where many of the emancipated enslaved first settled following the Civil War. Old Mt. Herman cemetery served as the primary local cemetery for African-Americans until the first decade of the 20th century, when additional cemeteries in the areas of Moncrief Road and Edgewood Avenue were established.

Due to inconsistent record-keeping, poor maintenance and preservation, and the conversion of the cemetery into a park and community center, the total number buried at Old Mt. Herman cemetery is unknown, with even an estimation being difficult to make. One well-preserved marker and monument lies on the sidewalk at the perimeter of the park. The marker belongs to Thompson Williams, a black man who reportedly gave his own life in October 1908 protecting the honor and dignity of a white woman. An 1898 Florida Times-Union index lists a total of 113 in that year that were buried at the cemetery. The 1899 Florida Times-Union lists only 18 buried that year. The cemetery discontinued being used for burials at some point in the early to mid 20th century, and the lot became overgrown with weeds and suffered from years of neglect. The development of the Emmett Reed Center, ironically, uncovered many of the still existing headstones. However, almost of these were removed in order to develop the community center and park grounds. One notable exception that was left undisturbed is the Fagins family lot at the southeast corner of the park. Fragments of other markers are scattered around the park and community center in the less frequented areas.

BCN Contact Information:

Andrew Mueller

Archives Specialist, Historic Preservation Section

AMueller@coj.net

OLD DUVAL COLORED CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1869

ADDITONAL NAMES: Old Duval Cemetery, Freedmen Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• City of Jacksonville (COJ) Parks and Recreation Department

• COJ Public Works Department

HISTORY:

The Old Duval Colored Cemetery (Freedmen Cemetery) was established in 1869 for African American burials. The cemetery was developed as a two-acre expansion in the northern section of Old City Cemetery, which first opened in 1852. Before the opening of the Evergreen Cemetery in 1881 and the Memorial Cemetery in 1911, this cemetery was the primary one of choice for prominent African American families. The Old Duval Cemetery continued to be used for burials until the 1980s. A total of 426 burials in the cemetery have been recorded; however, record-keeping throughout the Old City Cemetery has not consistently been maintained over the years and the total number of African Americans buried on the grounds is perceived to be higher.

Laura Adorkor Kofey (1893-1928), who was an African princess, is one of only two individuals buried in the Old City Cemetery that are recognized as having achieved outstanding importance to the community, state or nation, but not represented appropriately by other structures or sites either locally or in other parts of Florida. Princess Kofey became a leader in the Pan African movement which sought to establish economic and diplomatic ties among all people from the African diaspora. The sole mausoleum in the Old City Cemetery is dedicated to Princess Kofey. Other prominent African-Americans buried throughout the cemetery include nationally renowned humanitarian, Eartha Mary Magdalene White (1876-1974), Sallye Mathis (1912-1982), a school teacher who served on the Jacksonville City Council from 1967-1982, Dr. Alexander Darnes, the first black doctor to practice in Jacksonville, and Edward Latson and Albert W. Price, two of the founders of the Afro American Life Insurance Company. In addition, the graves of fifty African American veterans are dispersed throughout the cemetery. Several of these veterans fought as part of the Union Army during the Civil War.

BCN Contact Information:

Andrew Mueller

Archives Specialist, Historic Preservation Section

AMueller@coj.net

PALM SPRING CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Prior to 1942

ADDITONAL NAMES: Palm Spring Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• Cosmo Historical Preservation Corporation

HISTORY:

The Palm Spring Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida, is locally significant under Criteria A for Ethnic Heritage: Black, Ethnic Heritage: Gullah Geechee, and Early settlement/Exploration. The period of significance extends from circa 1942 to 1970. The cemetery is the best surviving resource associated with the historic Gullah Geechee community of Cosmo. Cosmo was formed after the Civil War, as former enslaved people, many of whom came from the coastal regions and Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina, arrived here as homesteaders. It was one of a small number of Gullah communities that lived in relative isolation in the Mill Cove area. The cemetery also functioned as a burial ground for the black communities of Mayport and what is now Jacksonville Beach. Like many African American communities during the era of segregation, the people in Cosmo, Mayport, and the beaches created the Palm Springs Cemetery in part to provide deceased family members with a level of dignity in death they were often denied in life. Although the oldest known marked burial dates to 1942, according to local informants the cemetery is actually older than this.

The full extent of the original cemetery is unknown, as there are no surviving burial records and many of the burials were either unmarked or the headstones either removed, destroyed, or deteriorated. The surrounding site has been heavily impacted by modern development, with suburban homes to the north and south, a former golf course to the east, and a retention pond and Fort Caroline Road to the west. Fencing has gone up around the cemetery. Although there has been no intensive archaeological investigation of the site, there are clear indications of unmarked burials extending past the fence lines.

(Historical Summary provided by Andrew Waber Florida Division of Historical Resources)

During the year of 2020, Paim Springs (Spring) Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historical places by the United States Department of Interior.

BCN Contact Information:

Leevon White

leevwht@aol.com