Florida Archives - The Cemetery Detective™

Woodlawn Park Cemetery – Miami, Florida

Woodlawn Park Cemetery is one of Miami’s oldest and largest cemeteries.

In the traditional Woodlawn style, the cemetery gates display a Gothic arched styling popular in the mid to late 1800s.

Though it is a garden style cemetery, Woodlawn’s many open areas allows easy access and visibility. This is Miami. So, rolling hills and 3-dimensional geographic features are not existent here. However, I enjoyed the exotic plants and tropical vegetation.

Cemetery Mausoleum

Even on this winter’s day (so cold back home) I enjoyed a long stroll through the traditional cemetery park layout. Puffy clouds rolling behind swaying palm trees serve as a testament to Woodlawn’s tropical location.

One highlight of my tour of Woodland Park Cemetery was walking the vault of the substantial mausoleum. Richly coloured stained glass windows allow natural sunlight to illuminate the mausoleum’s hallways. Marble corridors echo and reverberate each footstep.

An interior atrium garden was such a refreshing surprise. I sat on a bench and meditated for several minutes. The calm solitude was a reassuring comfort.

Fernhill Memorial Cemetery – Stuart Florida

Fernhill Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Stuart, Florida offers tropical bauble filled trees, glinting sunbeams, and finely manicured lawns.

Sunny Stuart Florida

is blazing hot in the middle of summertime but the cooler months are completely bearable with warm breezes and glistening beams of sunshine. Palm and other tropical trees grow in the fertile soil and St. Augustine Grass makes for a soft cushion underfoot.

It was one particular warm day and one particular sunbeam that cause my attention last July when I strolled the grounds of Fernhill Memorial Gardens. I love when relatives make their family plots places of celebration. This particular plot is adorned with hanging baubles catching sunlight making a visit to this cemetery less sad.

City of Miami Cemetery – Miami Florida

Gravemarker enthusiasts will like to know that the 5 known limestone gravemarkers in the country are located within the City of Miami Cemetery.

City of Miami Cemetery - Front Gate — City of Miami Cemetery – Front Gate

Before tourning the Port of Miami, I decided to take a quick tour of a couple cemeteries that were near my hotel. The City of Miami Cemetery was a quick 1.1 miles away so I decided to walk the distance. It was a pleasant walk that allowed me to explore a few ecclectic shops and find a Miami diner serving plate sized portions of home-style cooking. If you are not interested in the 1.1 mile walk, a 15 minute bus ride will take you from the Bayside retail section of the Port of Miami to within a few minutes walk of the cemetery.

My initial impression of the cemetery was of the substantial fence enclosing grave plots, monuments, and many tropical trees. The cemetery was mosly tidy, the grass was manicured, and markers were mostly easy to read. I did find that there were a significant number of pedestrians using the cemetery as a walking path between 2nd Avenue and North Miami Avenue. I wasn’t bothered by them but many of them seemed to look at me suspiciously as I wandered the grave sites with my notepad and cameras.

The cemetery houses many of the original black American and Bahamian incorporators of the city. One of the United States’ first black judges is also buried there. There is a large memorial to the Confederate Dead as well as a Catholic section, a Jewish section, a Spanish-American War section, and a monument dedicated to Julia Tuttle – the Mother of Miami.

Gravemarker enthusiasts will like to know that the 5 known limestone gravemarkers in the country are located within the City of Miami Cemetery.

Following a keen interest in cemeteries The Cemetery Detective has studied burying grounds from Hawaii to Maine, Europe, and throughout the United Kingdom. He instructs entrepreneurs how to start their own grave care businesses through his website: www.GraveCareBusiness.com

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