PLEASANT POINT CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Early 1800s

ADDITONAL NAMES: Woodlawn Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Pleasant Point Cemetery (also known as Woodlawn Cemetery) is located approximately 50 miles southwest of Jacksonville Florida in Green Cove Springs, Florida. It rests just off of County Rd 209 about a half a mile north of Magnolia Cemetery. Magnolia is recognized as an Historic Civil War Cemetery, it sits on the west side of the road across from the Saint Johns River. Pleasant Point’s coordinates are 30.16592 N, 81.699639 W. It is currently severely overgrown and only a few grave monuments are still visible above ground. Find a Grave lists 15 confirmed individuals buried at Pleasant Point. Other documentation suggests that there are most likely 50 or more graves sites at this cemetery. It is referred to as a “Negro Cemetery” in historical documents and is listed as such in the manuscript, “They Are Here” Cemeteries of Clay County, Florida” by Elizabeth R. Spencer. Based on current information Pleasant Point appears to have been used from the early 1800s up until the 1930s.

BCN Contact Information:

Steve Griffith

ussgriffy@gmail.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

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

COCONUT GROVE CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1913

ADDITONAL NAMES: Charlotte Jane Memorial Park, Grove Bahamian Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• Coconut Grove Cemetery Association

HISTORY:

In 1913, the cemetery property was purchased by five families for the sum of $140.00. The families that purchased the property are Burrow, Higgs, Reddick, Ross and the E.W.F. Stirrup families. The Coconut Grove Cemetery was first used as a graveyard in the early 1900's when Miami's Bahamian immigrants moved their cemetery from another location.

The cemetery was created by the Coconut Grove Colored Cemetery Association and today it is managed by the Coconut Grove Cemetery Association, which includes the following families: Burrows, Higgs, Reddick, Ross and Stirrup. It adjoins the Charlotte Jane Memorial Cemetery, which was named in honor of the wife of E.W.F. Stirrup. Adding to the lore of the cemetery are the 12 anthropomorphic "head and shoulder stones," which can only be found here in Miami-Dade County.

BCN Contact Information:

Coconut Grove Cemetery Association

bevy3435@gmail.com

HERNANDO COMMUNITY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1982

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Hernando Community Cemetery is one of two in Hernando, Citrus County Florida that bears the name. This Hernando Cemetery is an active Black cemetery. The first burials in this cemetery were in 1982. This cemetery is well maintained, and the gravestones are in very good condition.

BCN Contact Information:

Thomas Bowen

capttcb035@gmail.com

ROSEWOOD CEMETERY

FOUNDED: dates to late 1800s or early 1900s

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

———

BCN Contact Information:

Edward Gonzalez-Tennant

edward.gonzaleztennant@utrgv.edu

CEDAR KEY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1888, but its graves date back to 1872

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The Cedar Key Cemetery project scope of work was contracted by Digital Heritage Interactive LLC. The results of this project includes an interactive map based on the field mapping of approximately 1,250 marked burials and other cemetery furniture (e.g., walls, benches) in the Cedar Key Cemetery. This interactive map and the GIS that informs it also includes the results of a GPR survey to identify subsurface anomalies. This project provides new historical information through a complete inventory of all marked burials (as of June 2022) as well as GPR survey of 18 grids containing approximately 90 unmarked burials.

BCN Contact Information:

Edward Gonzalez-Tennant

edward.gonzaleztennant@utrgv.edu

MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1919

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Established in 1919, Memorial Park Cemetery is one of the oldest Black American cemeteries in Tampa. The 20-acre cemetery, located in East Tampa, holds over 6,000 burials, although the exact number is unknown. Throughout Memorial Park there are reminders of those who lived, served, and died in the city, from war veterans to the factory workers who made Tampa the Cigar Capital of the World.

In 1923, the southwest portion of Memorial Park Cemetery was dedicated to Black American veterans. This area is marked with the Florida Negro World War Veterans Memorial, and it was funded through the cooperation of the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary and the Booker Washington branch of the Tampa Chapter, American Red Cross. The dedication of this portion of the cemetery was marked with services held by the Tampa Urban League on Memorial Day. At that time, burial space for Black Americans was limited largely to cemeteries outside the city limits of Tampa. The cemetery includes at least one veteran of the American Civil War. Veterans from nearly each 20th century war America participated are interned at Memorial Park Cemetery, representing over 150 years of American military history.

BCN Contact Information:

Tampa Parks and Recreation Department

neris.reyero@tampagov.net

https://www.tampa.gov/parks-and-recreation/parks-and-facilities

SAINTS AND SINNERS CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Unknown

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

———

BCN Contact Information:

Dru Ann Welch

druannwelch@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095457311694

KEYSTONE/CITRUS PARK CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Between 1870-1900

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

This cemetery sits on a property that was once owned by my enslaved great-great-great grandfather Harry Lewis and his son Tony Lewis, who was born free. It was the site of the original Mt. Pleasant A.M.E Church which burned down under a suspicious fire. The church also served as a school for the freed children and the cemetery was operated on the same grounds. Official marriage certificates show related nuptials were held there the same year the Mt. Pleasant AME Church was founded in 1901. The burial grounds are adjacent to the current Mt Pleasant AME Church which was built in the early 1950’s. The burial grounds also stretch to the back of the historical Citrus Park Colored School which rest on land donated by my late great-great grandmother, Barbara Hamilton Allen. Barbara was a widow, mother, grandmother, businesswoman, citrus grower and matriarch of the black community in the Odessa/Keystone Park and Citrus Park area.

BCN Contact Information:

Michele Houston Hicks

gmhoustonhicks2021@gmail.com

BETTON HILLS PLANTATION CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1930’s

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The site is all that remains of a much larger cemetery for African Americans dating from the pre-Civil War era through the 1940s. It was the main burial ground for black slaves and servants from the Betton Plantation as well as other surrounding plantations. The plantation system grew in North Florida as cotton plantations to the north depleted their soil from overuse. Prominent early plantations in this region included Goodwood, Waverly, and Live Oak. Turbett Betton was a prominent Tallahassee merchant who purchased roughly 1,200 acres from the Lafayette estate, lying between Thomasville and Centerville Roads. Shortly after Betton’s death in 1863, the land was purchased by Guy Winthrop. The emancipation of the slaves ruined the cotton industry, and many planters turned their land into quail hunting plantations. In 1945, the Winthrop family began subdividing the property for a new housing community called Betton Hills. Henry Watson, buried at the back of the lot with his wife, was one of Winthrop’s servants. However, most of the burials were marked with a simple wooden cross or flowers, and so no longer remain. Evidence of a burial site is marked by elongated depressions in the earth covered with altered vegetation.

BCN Contact Information:

Remus March II

remy663@gmail.com

WIMAUMA MEMORIAL CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1906 (Legal) but dates back to 1860 - 80’s

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

The First Baptist Missionary Church and Cemetery was established in 1878, just thirteen short years after the abolishment of slavery in 1865. Prior to its official establishment, the cemetery was primarily a potter’s fields for the enslaved field workers and railroad workers. We know this because, at the time of its official establishment, there was around 129+ existing graves. Some of these cemetery residents die natural deaths, some from sickness, some by horrible and vicious means inflicted by racists individuals and groups. These neglected African Americans includes United States Military Veterans, ordinary men, women and children who deserve to be honored and their final resting places should be protected from modern day development expansions encroaching in this immediate area. The Church changed its name to First Prospect Missionary Baptist Church and the Cemetery, and the cemetery is now known as the Wimauma Cemetery. This name will be changed to the Wimauma Heritage Cemetery in July, 2022. Descendent of these hard-working men and women still lives in the Wimauma community and, as their ancestors, they are also laid to rest in this historic and holy cemetery grounds.

BCN Contact Information:

Rev. Dr. Doris Barron-Shell

barron8933@icloud.com

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

HIGHWAY PARK CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1947

ADDITONAL NAMES: HPCA

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

The Highway Park Cemetery is located in the south end of the unincorporated, predominantly African American community of Highway Park, in Highlands County Florida, about one mile south of the Town of Lake Placid, Florida on U. S. Highway 27. The Highway Park Cemetery Association (HPCA), comprised of a volunteer Board of Directors, manages the affairs of the cemetery.

Documented history of the cemetery's origin is not available, but research is ongoing to uncover this information. The oldest headstone dates back to 1947. However, it is believed that the cemetery was actually established in the 1930's. The Highway Park Cemetery was recently awarded a designation on the National Registry of Historic Places.

BCN Contact Information:

Selvin McGahee

execbro@gmail.com

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

MOUNT CARMEL CEMETERY

FOUNDED: mid-1800's

ADDITONAL NAMES: Mount Carmel A.M.E. Church

AFFILIATION(S):

• No national or local groups, but Pasco County is responsible for several historic cemeteries.

HISTORY:

Mount Carmel African Methodist Episcopal Church and cemetery served the historically black community that worked at the Ehren Pine Company sawmill. The congregation folded sometime after the Great Depression and members joined other local churches.

There are many unmarked graves here and the date of the first burial is unknown. Although it is believed that the cemetery dates back to the mid-1800s, the first marked grave is 1903 and the latest is 1954.

In 2006, the Pasco County Black Caucus, in cooperation with the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners and other concerned individuals, initiated efforts to provide recognition and perpetual care of this site.

BCN Contact Information:

Andrew Baxter

abaxter@pascocountyfl.net

pascocountyfl.net

LINCOLN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1926

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S):

• Lincoln Cemetery Society

HISTORY:

Lincoln Cemetery served as the main burial ground for St. Petersburg's black population from the year it opened in 1926 and throughout the segregation era. Veterans as far back as the U.S. Civil War are buried here, as well as notable civic historical figures. From years of neglect, the cemetery fell into deplorable condition. The Lincoln Cemetery Society Inc. has been established to change that. We hope you feel as compelled as we do to explore and preserve the cemetery's rich history!

BCN Contact Information:

http://www.lincolncemeterysociety.org/

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

https://bmecro.wordpress.com/