Folkway #10: Death

So, how did our area pioneers handle death?

Clearly, old timers were confronted with death more frequently and more intimately than we are today. 

The earliest settlers often died at home, and were buried on their family's land rather than a formal cemtery.  It is not unusual for these long-forgotten private plots to be found during modern construction projects.  In Pine Castle, for example, it is accepted as highly likely that some of the Macy family pioneers lay (at rest?) beneath the parking lot of the First Baptist Church.

Early grave markers were simple, usually carved into a simple shingle, wooden cross, or even a nearby tree trunk.  Thus, few have survived to the present day.  However, there are a few examples from the late 1800s at Greenwood Cemetery near downtown Orlando.  They are illegible due to the ravages of time (not to mention a brush fire), but they are still there if you care to hunt for them.

The first real cemetery in this corner of the Central Florida frontier was at "Gatlin Hill," near the modern intersection of Gatlin and Summerlin.  It was established during the Second Seminole War, the first burial being an unfortunately named soldier: Private Measles, who died of disease (perhaps measles?) at nearby Fort Gatlin.  The Harneys and Randolphs were among the pioneer families who subsequently buried their loved ones there.  But, when the surrounding property was acquired by the U.S. Navy for a sonar lab, the identifiable graves were moved to the aforementioned Greenwood Cemetery.

About the time of the War Between the States, the pioneer Powell family established a burial ground near Lake Jennie Jewel at what is now 3858 South Orange Avenue.  It later came to be used by non family members.  It is tiny and there has not been room for any new burials in many years, but it is still beautifully maintained by Orange County.

Some time later, a larger cemetery was established at the defunct settlement of "Oak Ridge," on Sand Lake Road just west of Orange Blossom Trail.  It is still actively managed and utilized by pioneer descendants.

Other area pioneers, are buried at the Conway Cemetery (especially if they were Methodists) and at the old Locke Cemetery on Boggy Creek Road.