This week, I was somewhat of a hermit, as I stayed indoors and did a ton of
research. I started off by revising the list of the 30-something historic cemeteries
that are yet to be recorded and narrowed down those that I will be utilizing
for my project. I chose eight cemeteries, four Caucasian and four African
American, whose earliest interments range between the mid 1800’s to the early
1900’s. I thought it would make for more accurate results if the cemeteries I examine
are within the same date range. The African American cemeteries I chose are: White
Lily Cemetery in Merritt Island, J.S. Stone Memorial Cemetery in Melbourne,
Davis Memorial Cemetery in Titusville and the Malabar African American Cemetery.
The Caucasian cemeteries on my list are Georgiana Cemetery in Merritt Island, Oak
Grove Cemetery in Melbourne, Oaklawn Memorial Gardens in Titusville, and the Malabar
White Cemetery. Before any of these cemeteries can be recorded with the state,
their owners must be contacted. Determining the owner of a historic cemetery is
not as easy as it sounds, so I have spent some time this week trying to compile
a list of contacts, as well as funeral homes associated with each cemetery.
I have
also been researching the history of each of these cemeteries. Every single one
of the cemeteries has its own unique story to tell. So far, I have learned that
J.S. Stone Memorial Cemetery was founded by one of the first African American
pioneers of Melbourne, John S. Stone. It will be interesting to see how this
site is maintained, since it is home to the graves of many significant African
American pioneers from the Melbourne area. Another interesting bit of
information that I came across: both White Lily and Malabar (African American)
previously had churches on the property and both were burned down during the
civil rights movement in the late 1950s/early 1960s. This might be something to
keep in mind when analyzing these two sites.
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| Historic marker at White Lily Cemetery |
Until next week,
Lareyne
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