Old City Cemetery (Jacksonville, Florida) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Old City Cemetery
The entrance to Old City Cemetery
Location	Jacksonville, Florida
Built	1852

The Old City Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida was established in 1852 as Jacksonville's main burial ground. After the American Civil War the cemetery later interred many Confederate veterans. Because the cemetery is over 160 years old, the Jacksonville Historic Landmarks Commission has deemed it an historic landmark of Jacksonville. The United Daughters of the Confederacy improved the cemetery by placing a historical plaque for the cemetery in 1949 and then a wall at the entrance of the cemetery in 1954.

Notable burials

Notable individuals buried at the cemetery include:

• Byron Kilbourn (8 September 1801 - 16 Dec 1870), surveyor, railroad executive, business magnate and politician who was an important figure in the founding of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the city's third and eight mayor;
• Captain Jacob Brock (5 July 1810 – 22 September 1876), a prominent steamboat captain operating on the St. Johns River
• Joseph Finnegan (17 November 1814 – 29 October 1885), a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army;
• John Freeman Young (30 October 1820 – 15 November 1885), second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, renown for his translation of Christmas carol Silent Night, Holy Night (German: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht) from German to English;
• Francis P. Fleming (28 September 1841 – 20 December 1908), the 15th Governor of Florida
• John Claudius “Claude” L'Engle (19 October 1868 – 6 November 1919), Democratic Representative from Florida to the Sixty-third Congress;
• Dr. Alexander H. Darnes (1846 - 11 February 1894), the first African-American physician in Jacksonville and the second in the state;
• Laura Adorkor "Mother Kofi" Kofi (1893 – 8 March 1928), founder of the African Universal Church;
• Alice Nunn (10 October 1927 - 1 Jul 1988), an actress, remembered mostly for her role as "Large Marge" in 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.

Gallery

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  Unknown Confederate grave in the Confederate section of the cemetery.

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  Confederate brigadier general 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.