Braving the Heat

To say that I had a busy week is most certainly an understatement! My wonderful group of extremely helpful volunteers braved the heat, rain and mosquitoes to help me visit four cemeteries in order to continue with the data collection for my project. 

On Monday, we gathered data at J.N. Tucker Memorial Cemetery in Melbourne, which is also known as Shady Oaks Cemetery. It was founded in 1912 by early African American settlers who came to Brevard County. There are 260 interments at J.N. Tucker Memorial Cemetery, but that does not include the various depressions scattered throughout the cemetery that are clear evidence of unmarked graves. The majority of the graves at J.N. Tucker Memorial Cemetery are vaulted and made of concrete.

Looking east at the entrance to the cemetery

Memorial plaque near the entrance archway

Flat granite marker, extremely weathered and illegible

                              

A tree growing into an upright marble marker

One of the nicer graves with damaged grave articles

Damaged vaulted grave

Severely damaged marble vaults

Illegible toppled marker

Another example of damaged grave articles

Severely damaged concrete vault

Sinking, tilted graves

This is a concrete vault that has almost been completely swallowed
by the ground

Grave of the original founder of the cemetery, Joseph Newman Tucker

The graves of members of the Tucker family.

Two of the nicer headstones in the cemetery: two upright granite markers

Family plot with a variety of markers 

One of many piles of trash

Scattered grave articles among beer bottles

 Our next stop was White Lily Cemetery in Merritt Island, also known as the Bethel-Greater Mount Olive A.M.E. Church Community Cemetery. It is located on the grounds of one of the first African American churches in Brevard county, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Several of Merritt Island's first African American pioneers are buried here. This cemetery has 111 interments and is comprised primarily of vaulted graves made of concrete.

The entrance to White Lily Cemetery

Cracked and weathered granite marker

Weathered concrete marker

Sunken marker and broken concrete wall

Damaged concrete vault

Temporary aluminum grave markers are common here. Sadly, many of
these temporary markers have become permanent, as most of them
date from as far back as the early nineties.

A severely damaged vaulted grave

What is left of a severely weathered headstone

Many of the graves in this cemetery are threatened by
flooding. This is a photo of a vault that is cracked in
various places and is being swallowed by the ground

Vaulted grave with an upright granite headstone. Only a
handful of graves at White Lily are in such good
conditions.

On Wednesday, I visited St. Luke's Episcopal Church and Cemetery in Merritt Island. This cemetery is home to many of the Caucasian founding families of the area. St. Luke's is also home to a carpenter Gothic style Episcopal Church which was built in 1888, the year the cemetery was established. This cemetery is beautifully maintained. There are 289 interments on the property, and the most popular headstones of choice are granite and marble.

Sign at the entrance to the cemetery

View looking into St. Luke's Cemetery

Unique home-made coquina marker. For those of you that have
never heard of it, coquina is a type of rock made entirely of
compacted shell fragments. 

Here is a close-up of a marker made of coquina. You can see that this
material doesn't hold up too well, but it is very unique in that that
the shell fragments create a decorative pattern.

Statue on one of the graves

The beautiful historic church on the grounds

Porcher family mausoleum

Beautiful marble marker form 1918

Marble marker from 1901

Another beautiful marble marker, this one from 1902

Last on the list for the week was Indianola Pioneer Cemetery, also known as Williams Cemetery. Indianola Cemetery is home to 259 graves. While researching the cemetery, I found this really interesting article that gives some more background info on the families and people buried there, such as the Kisers who owned the first Greyhound bus station in the area, and the various Italian families who helped the local citrus industry thrive in the 1920s. This was probably my favorite of all the cemeteries I have visited. The abundance of live oaks, weeping willows and fragrant cedar trees were absolutely breathtaking, and there were also many interesting grave articles and unique grave markers.

Looking west into the cemetery

Another view looking toward the west

A beautiful family plot with a variety of different markers.

Slightly weathered granite marker with a bronze plaque

I almost missed this one! Loved ones sometimes do not realize that
the very seedlings they plant near a grave can one day become
invasive and engulf or sometimes damage the marker.

Another example of plants taking over grave sites. This looks very pretty,
but these markers are at risk of being damaged by this overgrowth.

Yet another example of vegetation posing a threat to a marker. Here we
see a tree that was planted near a headstone. It is beginning to wrap
itself around the marker and will eventually end up destroying it.

One of a kind concrete marker decorated with sea shells

Here is an example of biological growth on an upright granite marker

Really neat sundial near a group of graves

Bird bath and a variety of figurines decorating a grave

One of the many beautiful marble headstones

That's about it for this week. Next week, I will be gathering data at J.S. Stone Memorial Cemetery and Georgiana Cemetery. I can't wait to see which other distinctive markers and features I run into.

Until next week,

Lareyne