Beyond the Ghosts: Florida's Historic Cemeteries

Florida has some of the nation's oldest and most beautiful cemeteries which are home to quite a few ghosts--if you believe the tales, that is, and its time they got the recognition they deserve.

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Did you know? Though used interchangeably today, gravestones and tombstones were once two different things: the marker on top of a gravesite and the coffin's stone lid. -Legacy.com

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St. Michael's Cemetery, Pensacola, FL. Photos are my own.

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Chestnut Street Cemetery, Apalachicola, FL

The oldest tombstone dates from 1831, but it is quite possible that the cemetery was in use before that date. Wooden markers have disappeared over the years.  The burial ground takes its name from the face that U.S. 98 or Avenue E was originally known as Chestnut Street. The old name has disappeared from street signs and maps over the years, but is preserved in the name of the cemetery, which faces the old street.

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Miami City Cemetery, Miami, FL

The City of Miami Cemetery is the oldest cemetery and is the first and only municipal cemetery in Miami-Dade County. The cemetery is the resting place for members of many important pioneer families in the City of Miami. Some of these pioneers are known to us by their history and their gravesites. As a result, the headstone and the classical mausoleums embellish the only site associated with many of these individuals.

The Miami city cemetery is one of the few cemeteries where the owners of the plot actually hold a deed to the land where the plot is situated.  Approximately 1,000 open plots remain within the City Cemetery but to be buried there the criteria is strict. One must be either the deed holder or able to prove familial relationship to the owner. Friends of the family are not allowed.

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Pinewood Cemetery, Coral Gables, FL

It is the oldest cemetery south of the Miami River, and the final resting place of many of Dade County’s pioneer settlers.It was first known as Larkins Cemetery, named for the Larkins settlement that became South Miami.  Later, the cemetery was called Cocoplum, Pineywoods and finally, Pinewood.

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Florida Law Relating to Historic and Abanoned Cemeteries

The beginning point for proper treatment and protection of human burials is state law. In Florida, a number of statutes address authorities and responsibilities concerning cemeteries, graves, and human remains. These laws reflect society's strong commitment to respecting and protecting the final resting places of all people regardless of culture, religion, race, gender, or length of time since burial. All human remains are afforded equal protection under the law.

Illegal to disturb human remains

In simple terms, it is illegal to willfully and knowingly disturb human remains. See Chapter 872.02 for the exact language. It is also illegal to disturb memorials such as fences, tombstones, markers, and even vegetation associated with a burial.

Illegal to buy or sell human remains

It is also illegal to deal in dead bodies, in other words, to buy, sell, or possess for the purpose of buying or selling. See Chapter 872.01 for the exact language. The only exception is for medical education or research at an institution of higher learning.

Moving graves

Florida law allows the moving of buried human remains by a licensed funeral director with a valid burial transit permit. See Chapter 497.384  for the exact language concerning disinterment, transportation and reinterment of human remains. Occasionally, graves are moved from inactive or abandoned cemeteries, or prior to construction of public works projects like roads, when avoidance is not possible. Moving graves is often controversial, and typically involves obtaining permission from descendants.

Maintaining an abandoned or unmaintained cemetery

There are literally thousands of abandoned cemeteries in Florida, many of them unknown and forgotten as old homesteads are subdivided and sold off, cemetery operators go out of business, churches are moved, and new property owners are unaware of old burying grounds. In Chapter 497.345, Florida law authorizes a county or municipality to maintain and secure an abandoned cemetery or one that has not been maintained for more than six months. Private funds may be solicited and spent on such maintenance, and such efforts are exempt from civil liabilities or penalties connected with damages to the property being maintained. Finally, the county or municipality may sue the owner of the property to recover costs.

Maintaining cemeteries that are no longer active is a widespread problem throughout the state. A review by the Task Force on Abandoned and Neglected Cemeteries appointed by the Legislature in 1998 determined that some counties had more than 100 such cemeteries, and that thousands probably remain undocumented and uncared for in the state. The most successful efforts to rehabilitate and care for abandoned and neglected cemeteries depend on community organization and volunteer effort. Remember that many older cemeteries are important historic resources, and that special care is required to prevent damage to stones, ironwork, vegetation and other elements.

**This work is not my own.  Content was obtained from the Florida Department of State, Division of Historic Resources.  For more information, please visit www.flheritage.com/index.cfm

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St. Michael's Cemetery, Pensacola, FL

St. Michael's Cemetery is an eight-acre green space in the heart of urban, historic Pensacola, Florida. Probably in use during the late 18th century, the land was officially designated a cemetery by the King of Spain in 1807. Although assigned to the Catholic inhabitants of Pensacola, people of all faiths have traditionally been buried here. The cemetery is an open air museum that is a testament to the diverse history of Pensacola. There is an ongoing preservation project partnered with the University of West of Florida.  For more information, visit www.stmichaelscemetery.org/

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Key West Cemetery, Key West, FL

It is a 19-acre historic cemetery located in Key West. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people are buried there, many more than the 30,000 residents who currently live on the island. In 1847 it was established at its current location after a 1846 hurricane washed dead bodies from the earlier cemetery out of the coastal sand dunes on Whitehead Point.

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Tolomato Cemetery in St Augustine, FL. 

This cemetery was originally built as a burial place for Christian Indians in the 1700s, but remained a popular Spanish cemetery throughout the history of St. Augustine.  It was the site of a Franciscan mission built just outside of the old city walls as a home for Guale Indians from the Tolomato mission in Georgia, who had lived along the Tolomato River north of St Augustine until the British attacks of 1702-1704. The mission chapel, circa 1726, was a simple wooden structure with a thatched roof and a remarkable four-story coquina bell-tower on the east façade.  This cemetery is the oldest planned cemetery in the State of Florida.

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Gravestone Symbolism

Engravings have adorned tombs and headstones for literally thousands of years and there have literally been thousands of religious and secular emblems used. These symbols may indicate religious beliefs, attitudes toward death, memberships in social organizations, the individual's trade or perhaps even ethnic identities. While we can't pretend to know what our ancestors felt or thought, the symbols on their resting place may give a clue. If you have ever wandered through a cemetery and wondered what the symbols meant, read on! The following list is a compilation of the most commonly used gravestone symbols and their generally agreed upon meanings.

Acorn - Life, fertility, immortality

Alpha and Omega (Combined) - The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet combined to represent Christ

Anchor - Hope

Angel - Spirituality, Guardian of the tomb

Arches - Victory in death

Arrows - Mortality

Bird - Eternal life

Book - Faith, the Book of Life

Bouquet - Grief, condolences

Bridge - Between life and death

Broken Column - Life cut short

Broken Ring - Family circle severed

Buds - Renewal of Life

Bugles - Military

Butterfly - Transformation, rebirth

Calla Lily - Marriage

Candle - Truth, eternal life

Candle Being Snuffed - Mortality

Chains - The bounds of the soul to the body

Chalice - The sacraments

Cherub - Innocence

Clock - Time has run out

Corn - Lived to a ripe old age

Coffin - Mortality

Cross - Symbol of faith

Crossed Swords - Cavalry

Crown - Crown of Righteousness

Crucifix - The sacrifice Jesus made for human salvation

Daffodil - Death of youth

Daisy - Innocence of a child, purity of thought

Darts - Death, mortality

Dog - Courage, loyalty, vigilance

Door - Passage from one life to the other

Dove - Peace, the Holy Spirit

Drapes - Also called a Pall, mourning

Eagle - Courage, power, victory

Father Time - Mortality, death

Flowers - Grief, sorrow, remembrance

Fruit - Abundance, immortality, life, potential

Garlands - Victory in Death

Grapes/Grape Vines - Christ's blood, and His sacrifice

Hand with Pointing Finger - Look to God or Heaven, gone home 

Handshake - Friendship, solidarity, unity

Heart - True love, bliss

Hourglass - The swiftness of time

Ivy - Faithfulness, immortality, friendship

Lamb - Sacrifice, innocence, purity, gentleness

Lamp - Knowledge, love of learning

Laurel Wreath - Victory

Lily - Purity, light, perfection

Lion - Courage, pride, strength, valor

Oak Leaves - Strength, maturity

Olive Branch - Peace

Pine Cone - Fertility, immortality

Poppies - Eternal sleep

Rising Sun - Immortality, resurrection

Roses - Perfection, completion

Scales - 'Justice, balance

Shattered Urn - Old person

Sheath of Wheat - Ripe for harvest

Ships - Hope

Skeleton - Personification of Death

Skull - Mortality, life, thought

Sleeping Child - Signifies Death, especially that of a child

Sphinx - Guardian of tomb

Square and Compass - Masonic symbol

Star - Wisdom, Divine Spirit

Steps - Ascension, stages or levels

Thistles - Scottish symbol for remembrance

Torch - The power of fire and life / Upside down represents death

Trees - Life, nature

Urn with Crepe or Wreath - Mourning

Willows - Sorrow

Winged Effigies - Flight of the soul

Wreath - Victory in Death

Yew Leaves - Eternal Life

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This past semester I worked on a relatively little known cemetery in the Ferry Pass area of Pensacola.  Its one of the oldest and largest in the surrounding area.  It is a preserved segregated cemetery that has a chain link fence which separates the "black" section from the "white" section.  In the 1950s a person who came to be known as the "Whitmire Goul" desecrated a few of the graves by digging up the bodies and moving them to different locations in the cemetery! He/she was never caught. To find out more about the cemetery visit the website my teammates and I created at http://krewedelosmuertos.wix.com/whitmirecemetery

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Florida's Cemeteries

As mentioned in the blog's description, Florida has quite a few historic cemeteries.  In fact, the oldest, continuously inhabited settlement in the United States in located in Florida, Saint Augustine. And the first settlement was also in Florida, located at Pensacola.  Because of this long history, there are literally thousands of historic and/or abandoned cemeteries in Florida, many of which are unknown and forgotten as old homesteads are sold off, cemetery operators go out of business, churches are moved, and new property owners are unaware of old burying grounds.

As a kid in Pensacola, I have literally stumbled across an abandoned cemetery in the woods known locally as "the scary woods" near my house.  The legend was that the graves belonged to slaves that had died working on a now nonexistent railroad.  When I was in high school, a girl broke into one of those graves and stole the skull and kept it in her locker at school until the teachers found out about it.

Its a tragedy these graves were allowed to fall out of memory and knowledge and if you have ever come across an old graveyard and wondered who they were and why they were there, this blog is for you.  From Pensacola to Key West, if we don't preserve their past, who will preserve ours?