Old City Cemetery (Jacksonville, Florida)
Old City Cemetery | |
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Location | Jacksonville, Florida |
Built | 1852 |
The Old City Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida was established in 1852 as Jacksonville's main burial ground.[1] After the American Civil War the cemetery later interred many Confederate veterans and veterans of the Union Army’s United States Colored Troops. Because the cemetery is over 160 years old, the Jacksonville Historic Landmarks Commission has deemed it a historic landmark of Jacksonville. The United Daughters of the Confederacy placed a historical plaque for the cemetery in 1949 and then a wall at the entrance of the cemetery in 1954.[2]
Notable burials
Notable individuals buried at the cemetery include:
- city's third and eighth mayor[a]
- Captain Jacob Brock (1810–1876), steamboat captain operating on the St. Johns River
- Joseph Finnegan (1814–1885), brigadier general of the Confederate States Army
- Governor of Florida
- Sixty-third Congress
- Dr. Jacksonville and the second in the state
- Laura Adorkor "Mother Kofi" Kofi (1893–1928), founder of the African Universal Church
- Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
Decay and vandalism
Despite being one of the oldest and most historical cemeteries in Jacksonville it has been neglected and in decay. Due to the increased downtown urbanization around the cemetery and poor security it has endured vandalism over the years. Some gravestones have been damaged or simply toppled over in certain areas of the cemetery.[3]
Gallery
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Unknown Confederate grave in the Confederate section of the cemetery.
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Joseph Finnegan
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An enclosed grave area.
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A Confederate grave among other graves.
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Plaque dedication of the wall donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
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The main pathway of the cemetery.
Notes
- eighth one.
References
- ^ "A Walk Through History: Old City Cemetery". metrojacksonville.com. Metro Jacksonville. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ^ "Old City Cemetery". flpublicarchaeology.org. Florida Public Archaeology Network. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ^ Scanlan, Dan. "Jacksonville's historic Old City Cemetery vandalized". jacksonville.com. Florida Times-Union. Retrieved September 25, 2014.