GOSPEL PILGRIM CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1882

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery is located in Athens, Georgia. The cemetery was founded 1882 by the Gospel Pilgrim Society, a Black benevolent organization, “to see to it that that deceased among their number, as well as all others of their race, not otherwise provided for, are properly and decently interred.” Over the course of its one-hundred-and twenty-one-year history, around 3,500 African Americans were buried in the cemetery (approximately twenty to twenty-five percent of those were formerly enslaved individuals). Most were interred during the cemetery’s heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, but many prominent Black Athenians from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are buried at Gospel Pilgrim: Monroe Bowers “Pink” Morton was born a slave in 1856, but rose to become a wealthy Athenian and the owner of the Morton Theatre; Harriet Powers was a famous folk artist and quilter; Madison Davis went from slavery to the Georgia Legislature in 1868; and Ellen Green was a local resident who became a dean at Fisk University. Gradually, the cemetery fell into disarray and, after 1960, fewer and fewer people were laid to rest within its geographic bounds. In 1977, the last surviving member of the Gospel Pilgrim Society died of a heart attack. No long-term arrangement had been made for the cemetery's perpetual care, and it now has no legal owner. While nature as reclaimed the landscape, student and community groups sponsor occasional work-days to remove weeds, clear fallen branches, and pick-up trash. The last burials occurred in the early 2000s.

BCN Contact Information:

Tracy Barnett

tracy.barnett@uga.edu

KINSLER ENSLAVED CEMETERY

FOUNDED: N/A

ADDITONAL NAMES: Burnside Property

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The cemetery is located on property that was originally owned by the Kinslers', who are considered to be a founding family for the state of South Carolina. John Herman Kinsler, one of the enslavers, signed the document of succession from the union, served in the civil war, and surrendered at Appomattox with Robert E. Lee.

The cemetery is one of two known enslaved Kinsler cemeteries in Richland County. The graves are located under a grove of trees with a stream running close by. There are flat stones that resemble slate stone that serve as headstones. The headstones are of different sizes, possibly indicating the age range of the buried individual. It appears that the cemetery is buried on a hillside. The size of the cemetery is unknown as well as the number of individuals buried in the cemetery. Based on this limited information about these early Kinsler descendants, it appears that there was some respect for the burial practices of the enslaved Kinslers'.

BCN Contact Information:

Brenda Kinsler

bkinsler224@gmail.com

POINT OF ROCKS COLORED CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1879

ADDITONAL NAMES: Point of Rocks African American Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

This is an old African American cemetery. At one time this cemetery was affiliated with an AME church, but the church was torn down several years ago. The last burial took place in 1985.

BCN Contact Information:

Donna Nelson

det55@aol.com

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

COLEMAN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1966

ADDITONAL NAMES: The Churches and Fraternities Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The Coleman cemetery formed on July 18, 1966. The founders of this cemetery are Robert Butler, Father A.M Cochran, Willie Dickerson, Mary Gaddis, Clinton Jackson, Rev S.B. Ross, Rev R.B. strong, George Turner, Ella Washington, W.F Watson, and Rev J.G. West.

BCN Contact Information:

Brenda Seegars

Brendaseegars@yahoo.com

RED HILL CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1800s

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S):

• Okefenokee Heritage Center

HISTORY:

Red Hill Cemetery is an approximately six-acre historically Black cemetery located in Waycross, GA. It contains roughly 2,000 burials and has unfortunately experienced vandalism for the past several decades. Red Hill is an important site for the surrounding African American community; numerous local residents have family members and other loved ones buried there. Oral Histories with local descendants reveal the untold stories of Black life in Waycross, of the churches and schools that were central spaces in the community, of the accomplishments and perseverance of African Americans. In this way, Red Hill is an important archive of local Black history. Through a collaboration between the University of North Florida and the Okefenokee Heritage Center, faculty, students, staff and community members have come together to restore Red Hill and document its history.

BCN Contact Information:

Felicia Bevel

felicia.bevel@unf.edu

DAVIS MEMORIAL CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1956

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

A BRIEF TIMELINE OF DAVIS MEMORIAL CEMETERY (DMC)

1880: William Henry Maxwell arrives in Titusville, FL.

1925: W. H. Maxwell was successful in the citrus industry & acquired DMC property.

1952: Edward D. Davis, Jr., inherited properties from W. H. Maxwell.

1956: Edward D. Davis, Jr., established over 3 acres as Davis Cemetery for the black community.

1968: City resolution established and named right of way, Davis Place.

1969: Davis Cemetery renamed Davis Memorial Cemetery.

1969-1987: Charles G. Davis managed DMC until his passing.

1987-2012: Rita M. Davis managed DMC until her passing.

2012-Present: Kirk A. Davis began tenure as DMC general manager.

2018: Netflix's Last Chance U featured THS football player's homage to a fallen teammate.

2019: Held first community flag ceremony for deceased veterans.

2022: DMC added to historic Florida Master Site File, BR04482 .

2022: Held first "Wreaths Across America" ceremony.

DMC was one of two cemeteries for African Americans in Titusville, FL, during the "post-Reconstruction" and "Jim Crow Era". Black pioneer families (circa 1873) and their descendants, pastors, clergy, educators aerospace workers and local sports heroes.

BCN Contact Information:

Kirk A. Davis

dstarrs3740@gmail.com

TIMBUCTOO CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1854 per deed; 1847 is oldest gravestone

ADDITONAL NAMES: Zion Weleyan Methodist Episcopal African Church Cemetery; Timbuctoo Civil War Memorial Cemetery,

AFFILIATION(S):

• Timbuctoo Historical Society

HISTORY:

The Zion Wesleyan, Methodist Episcopal African Church was incorporated in December of 1854 and the land, including designation of a cemetery, was purchased that same month. However, since incorporation of churches and charitable organizations was a relatively new phenomenon in 1854, we don't assume the church and cemetery were founded at that time. In fact, the oldest remaining gravestone is dated 1847. We believe the church and cemetery occupied the premises long before 1854, perhaps under a rental agreement. It is noteworthy that the 1847 grave is for Eliza Parker. She was the wife of Timbuctoo community leader David Parker, who was a trustee of the church. Timbuctoo is an antebellum free Black settlement settled in 1826. More information about Timbuctoo can be found at www.TimbuctooNJ.com

The name Timbuctoo Civil War Memorial Cemetery is associated with the installation of a name marker in 2006 by the Westampton Historical Society. Since 8 of 11 remaining gravestones are US Colored Troops (USCT) that fought in the Civil War, logical thinking at that time was that it was a cemetery for Civil War soldiers. However, the 1854 deed suggests otherwise, with restrictive language about who can be buried here. It says the premises were to be used "as a place of religious worship according to the form of government and discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in America, and as a place for the burial of the dead of such as are in connection with said church or the descendants thereof, (and such others as the majority of the Trustees for the time being may permit) forever." In addition, ground penetrating radar conducted in 2009, identified as many as 164 unmarked graves. Based on the foregoing, we believe that the USCT were buried in the cemetery because of their affiliation with the church, not because of their military service, and the majority of the interments were civilian church members.

The Timbuctoo website noted above includes additional information, including brief biographies of the US Colored Troops.

Sources:

Burlington County, New Jersey, Deeds, A:77.Trustees of the Zion Wesleyan ME African Church –Timbuctoo,23 December 1854; Burlington County Clerk's Office, Mount Holly.

Guy Weston "Timbuctoo and the First Emancipation of the Nineteenth Century," New Jersey Studies, Vol. 8 No. 1 (2022)

William J Chadwick and Peter Leach, Geophysical Survey of Timbuctoo, Westampton Township, New Jersey, John Milner Associates, September 2009

BCN Contact Information:

Guy Weston

GuyWeston@TimbuctooNJ.com

www.TimbuctooNJ.com

UNION AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1835

ADDITONAL NAMES: Allentown Borough Municipality and Union AME Church

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

The Allentown African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1835. This cemetery was in active use by the Union AME church from 1862- 1946. There are 65 identified burial plots at the site; however, 2019 research revealed there are 170 people buried in the cemetery. Many buried here were residents of Allentown, active in the Underground Railroad, or served in the Civil War. Among the buried was the last surviving Civil War Veteran in New Jersey, Sergeant George Ashby.

In honor of one of the cemetery' s most historical figures, Sergeant George Ashby, Allentown Borough created a park to add to the beauty and the historical importance of this Civil War Veteran and the people buried alongside him, known and unknown. Also buried within the cemetery is James Woby a hero in the battle of Gettysburg.

Allentown was also home to the Black Church Movement and was home to the second AME church in the county of Monmouth which was established in 1835.

BCN Contact Information:

Borough Administrator Laurie Roth and Allentown Council

clerk@allentownboronj.com

HALFWAY AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1897

ADDITONAL NAMES: Halfway Colored Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S):

• Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Places

HISTORY:

Halfway “Colored” Cemetery (as it was known) was founded in 1897, when a Black fraternal organization, in Hagerstown, Maryland, purchased a piece of farmland outside town to create a new cemetery for Hagerstown’s Black community. The organization was called the Perseverance Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria. The cemetery was dedicated in August of that year with great ceremony. It was in use for about 35 years, with some 400 African Americans, mostly from Hagerstown, being buried here. The last known burials took place in 1932. The cemetery contains earlier graves too, dating as far back as 1844. The earlier graves are believed to have been moved to Halfway from the Bethel/Ebenezer A.M.E. Church cemetery in Hagerstown. At least thirteen veterans are buried here: twelve men who fought in the USCT in the Civil War, and one who fought in World War I. Others buried at Halfway include a Pullman porter, a midwife, a student attending Storer College at Harpers Ferry, a pastor, and business people.

Originally, the cemetery was six acres in size, covering most of what is now the 11000 block of Clinton Avenue, on both sides of the street. But by 1944, the Samaritan lodge had declined. The remaining members sold most of the cemetery property to a developer, retaining less than an acre as cemetery. The portion of the land that has not been sold is what makes up the Halfway African American Cemtery today. The cemetery is surrounded by houses and yards, with no direct street access as of 2020. The cemetery became overgrown and largely forgotten; most of the headstones were moved and broken, lost among the vegetation and fallen trees. Restoration efforts began in March 2020 and continue today. Surviving headstones have been located and cleaned; there are plans to restore the space and create public access. The Friends of Halfway African American Cemetery, incorporated in 2022, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

BCN Contact Information:

Emilie Amt

halfwaycemetery@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064853073592

WORTHINGTON CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1855

ADDITONAL NAMES: Archibald Worthington

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Archibald Worthington (1818-1895) was a farmer that owned land in Highland Township, Defiance County Ohio. He migrated to Ohio upon gaining his freedom from slavery in Virginia. He and his wife raised their children on his land in Section 7 of Highland Township. He designated part of his land to be a cemetery that "was built by him, on his land, for 'his' people, no one but colored persons were ever buried there" according to the 1936 WPA Cemetery record for Worthington Cemetery. The cemetery was used until about 1890 when he moved from the area. He moved with his third wife to Wilmington, Ohio where he ran a business until his death in 1895. He is buried in Sugar Grove Cemetery in Wilmington. The land was given to his living children James and Matilda. His oldest son Henry Worthington joined the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and saw battle, eventually taken as a Prisoner of War. Before he could be freed, he developed typhoid fever and passed away on January 8, 1865. He is buried in Salisbury National Cemetery in Salisbury, North Carolina. James and Matilda sold the land when they moved out of the area. The cemetery was considered abandoned and the land was bought and sold many times. The stones were moved in the early 1900's to make farming the land easier. It is currently owned by Ayersville Water and Sewer Co. who lease it for farming.

BCN Contact Information:

Defiance Public Library

smarshall@defiancepubliclibrary.org

https://www.defiancelibrary.org/

MOUNT MOOR CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1849

ADDITONAL NAMES: Mount Moor African-American Cemetery

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Mount Moor Cemetery is a “burying ground for colored people” that was deeded on July 7, 1849 by James and Jane Benson to three African Americans, William H. Moore, Stephen Samuels and Isaac Williams, trustees. Spanning more than a century of active use (1849-ca. 1957), the cemetery is a rare surviving example of a burying ground established for the area’s African American population by African Americans. The last interment in the cemetery occurred in 1986. The cemetery has provided burial space for colored people, including veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and II, and the Korean War. In 1940, the cemetery was formally incorporated as the Mount Moor Cemetery Association, Inc.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, the cemetery fell into disrepair. A major refurbishment of the grounds was undertaken in 1977 and again in the 1980s. Although surrounded today by modern commercial development, this once isolated burying ground retains an outstanding degree of integrity. On September 15, 1988, the Clarkstown Town Board voted unanimously to designate Mount Moor Cemetery as a local historical site. Friends of Mount Moor Cemetery was founded in 2021 to protect and preserve this sacred burial ground.

BCN Contact Information:

Friends of Mounty Moor Cemetery

friendsofmountmoorcemetery@gmail.com

CONROE COMMUNITY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Before 1892

ADDITONAL NAMES: Conroe Community Cemetery Restoration Project (CCCRP)

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

On the near east side of Conroe, Texas, is a small cemetery that has been lost to human memory, but it has not been forgotten by nature. Located on Tenth Street in Conroe, Texas, just north of Highway 105, between Oakwood Cemetery and the old Conroe Normal & Industrial College is a African-American cemetery that had no name, but the African-American residents of old would refer to it as the Community Cemetery, or simply the Conroe Cemetery. This historic cemetery has graves dating back to the 1890s and include emancipated slaves, railroad workers, sawmill workers, the only confirmed Buffalo Soldier buried in Montgomery County, members of the fraternal organization called the Knights and Daughters of Tabor, International Order of 12, three early African American educators and over 200 graves for whom their names will remain a mystery but for whom we are placing a marker with Unknown on it.

Unfortunately, this cemetery had become so overgrown that hundreds of people drove past it daily and had no idea it was there. That has now changed!

The Conroe Community Cemetery Restoration Project is dedicated to seeing this forgotten piece of history restored and preserved so those who are interred there may once again be honored, and future generations can learn about this lost history of Conroe. It is also our desire to locate and work with the descendants of those buried in this cemetery so they may again have a connection with their past.

BCN Contact Information:

John Meredith

txgeoman@gmail.com

CEDAR LAWN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1940

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

This cemetery was given to the community by ALCOA Inc, an aluminum company. Most African American men, in Alcoa, worked at the Alcoa Aluminum Company because World War 1 brought about a spike in the demand for aluminum. The men were brought in to work in the smelting operations. The company quickly expanded its North Maryville operations. In 1919, a rolling mill (now West Plant) was completed, and the company purchased the Knoxville Power Company for its Little Tennessee Valley holdings.

Dr. Ben Washington, who was a community leader and Doctor, lays at this cemetery. This cemetery is the final resting place to veterans from World War I and beyond.

BCN Contact Information:

United Citizen Community Organization

Bonesjrw@gmail.com

SHARSWOOD PLANTATION CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1850s

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Fred Miller Purchased property in southern Virginia. He did not know it at the time, but his new property was once a plantation. Named Sharswood, it was built in the 1850s by a slave-owning uncle and nephew who shared his last name. Miller and his family were surprised to find that their ancestors were once enslaved at Sharswood.

Fred Miller plans to clean up the cemetery and is in the process of creating a non-profit foundation to also restore the slave quarters on the property to help educate people interested in the history of slavery. Miller talks more about his experience and story on 60 minutes.

BCN Contact Information:

Fredrick Miller

sharswoodmanorestate@gmail.com

EVERGREEN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1891

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Founded in 1891 by a private African American association, Evergreen Cemetery is the final resting place of an estimated 50,000 people—complete records are not available for the site—among them some of Richmond’s most prominent residents. Maggie L. Walker, a pioneering banker, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, was buried there in 1934. Yards from her lies John Mitchell Jr., outspoken editor of the Richmond Planet newspaper and member of the city’s Common Council from 1888 to 1898. Other luminaries interred at Evergreen include Dr. Sarah Garland Jones, the first African American and first woman licensed to practice medicine in Virginia, and the Reverend J. Andrew Bowler, who helped organize the first school for Black students in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood and then served on its faculty for more than fifty years.

For a time in the early 20th century, Evergreen was a preeminent burial site for Black Richmond. But the community it served was increasingly burdened by Virginia’s system of legal discrimination. The weight of Jim Crow placed inordinate pressures on families and organizations, drastically limited economic opportunity, and posed a daily threat to Black people’s health, safety, and dignity. Many African Americans left the area. Others could not afford to continue maintaining family plots, though many families tried.

 The 59-acre cemetery began to decline in the mid-20th century, even as the all-white Virginia General Assembly funded upkeep at many Confederate cemeteries. Successive owners have tried and failed to maintain the cemetery, including a series of initiatives led by funeral directors in the 1970s. Newspaper articles from the 1960s and 1970s report on the rampant overgrowth at Evergreen, as well as chronic vandalism. Over the years, volunteer efforts have made some progress at clearing the cemetery, particularly its center section, but have not been able to hold back nature. The cemetery’s last owner, the Enrichmond Foundation, collapsed in 2022. The fate of Evergreen remains unclear as of this writing in February 2023.

BCN Contact Information:

Erin Hollaway Palmer

ehollaway@gmail.com

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

UNITED COLORED AMERICAN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1883

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S):

• The Union Foundation

HISTORY:

United Colored American Cemetery was founded by the United Colored American Association. It is one of the oldest and most important African American Cemeteries in Ohio. The cemetery incorporated graves that had been previously located in Avondale which had been established in 1848. Many citizens of Avondale were unhappy about having a "Negro cemetery in their mist. In 1870's Avondale petitioned the Ohio Legislature and got a bill passed giving the local Board of Health power to declare the cemetery a public nuisance and had it closed. Abolitionist Martin Delany was at the original dedication and writes, "This is a most praiseworthy undertaking on the part of the colored citizens; and how shameful the necessity of a separate burial-place for the dead!" The cemetery became increasely neglected over the years. Council Charles P. Taft, Trustee of Spring Grove Cemetery was appointed to operate the cemetery. In 1968 he transferred the cemetery to Union Baptist Church.

United Colored American Cemetery is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At least 45 African American veterans from the Civil War are buried here. Other prominent citizens buried here are abolition John Isom Gains (1821-1859). The United American Cemetery is in disrepair and restoration is urgently needed. Invasive plant species have overtaken large areas of the cemetery. Erosion and vandalism also have contributed to condition concerns. Headstones and monuments have tilted and fallen over. Improvements are needed to the roadway and the burial vault. In the last 5+ years large runoff of water and waste materials have been found. This had caused enormous additional deterioration. United Colored Cemetery was closed by the health department unsafe for families to visit their loved ones. We are actively looking for the cause and financial resources to restore this sacred burial ground.

BCN Contact Information:

Louise Stevenson

lstevenson@fuse.net

TheUnionFoundation.org

SHELTON FAMILY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: Pre- 1850 (Possibly as early as 1830)

ADDITONAL NAMES: Possum Trot Cemetery and Church

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

In 1874, my formerly enslaved third great-grandparents on my maternal ancestral line, Hardy and Mary Bearden Shelton, relocated to the Flatwoods District of Floyd County, Rome, Georgia, from nearby Coosa. Hardy was a farmer and Mary a healer. Hardy purchased 120 acres of land, which was the beginning of the Shelton Family Settlement, and it was on this land that his family grew to 12 children. Through hard work and family and community loyalty, the adult children and their spouses, purchased additional acreage and expanded the Settlement to nearly 700 acres. While at some points in time the families were prosperous, few could read and write, which lead to loss, theft, or appropriation of their land. By the mid-1920's much of the land was no longer in the possession of Shelton family members. The families migrated to other parts of the country, with a few remaining in the Rome area. Today, only the Shelton Family cemetery remains, which holds 60+ graves, 13 with a marker identifying the family member at eternal rest, but most are marked with fieldstones. A few yards from the Cemetery is the Possum Trot Church, which had many other names prior to 1902. In 1902 or so, the area became known as Possum Trot when Martha McChesney Berry, the founder of Berry College, came on the scene from her nearby home, known as Oak Hill.

Some members of the Shelton Family Settlement married members of the Freemantown Settlement of formerly enslaved blacks, located a few miles away. Both of these Settlements are now on land claimed to be owned by Berry College, a private institution, the largest land mass college in the world. While we, the descendants of the Shelton, Spruce, Shropshire, and other families, have forged a relationship with Berry College, it has been a slow slog to get them to acknowledge our ancestors. It seems there is resistance to letting the Berry community and the surrounding community know that indeed there is a cemetery full of black people directly behind the Possum Trot Church that is dubbed as the "Cradle of the College", where it all began for Martha Berry and her teaching to the "mountain children" (all white).

We are currently working with Berry College to ensure its students, faculty and the community near and far are aware of the stewards (including the Cherokee Nation) of the land that Berry College now claims and sits upon.

BCN Contact Information:

Angela R. James

angelarjames.sdhs.org@gmail.com

HISTORIC OAKLYNN CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1926

ADDITONAL NAMES: N/A

AFFILIATION(S): N/A

HISTORY:

Oaklynn Cemetery, in Edgewater, is a place that comes in and out of the news every decade or so.  It is the resting place of many early to mid-20th century African Americans in this southern Volusia County city. The records for the cemetery are lost, so the exact number of those interred is impossible to know. The cemetery measures about 6 acres, but only one acre is accessible thanks to the cleanup efforts of the descendants and volunteers who have come forward. 

The last burial was in 1969. At that time, the owner closed the cemetery with barbed wire and turned cattle loose among the graves. Those who had family buried there were not aware that by law they were entitled to maintain their family plots. And so the graves fell victim to robbers, vandals and the harsh Florida weather. And those who owned lots were unable to use them for any further burials.

BCN Contact Information:

Gwen Tobler

humblegwen@gmail.com