Cemetery a Day in May: Bosque Bello (Nassau County)
Cemetery Log Date: May 5, 2013
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| Photo by Historic Cemeteries, used with permission. |
Get ready to fall in love- Bosque Bello Cemetery
is located north of Fernandina Beach at the northern tip of Amelia Island. If you drive up, look for signs to Old Town to find one of Florida's most iconic historic cemeteries. Established at the end of the 18th century, the cemetery is home to many Spanish colonialists and notable figures of the Territorial period. The cemetery is partially situated on a bluff, so unlike many Florida cemeteries, there are slopes and inclines that make landscape shots particularly dramatic.
As a special treat we have visual delights from Historic Cemeteries (Mary Homick) used with permission to post. If you are not yet following her on FB, stop what you're doing (including reading this) and check out her page. Thanks Mary!!! Your images capture the magic I feel when walking around a cemetery- it's not just a historic site, it's not just where people are buried, it's that timeless space betwixt and between life and death.
Interesting side note- this cemetery (of ALL places) was not included in the Florida Master Site File! How can that be? There was a site form titled, "Bosque Bello Cemetery," but it wasn't until we pulled the form for our CRPT course there in May 2012 that we realized the site form documented a prehistoric midden. The archaeologists must have named the prehistoric feature due to proximity to the cemetery. It wasn't common then to record historic cemeteries, and at that point it might not have been considered very old! A great example of how times change and how cemeteries have gained relevance in the field of cultural resources. And don't worry, we added it last year to the FMSF (8NA1245 - the 1,245th historical resource recorded in Nassau County).
As a special treat we have visual delights from Historic Cemeteries (Mary Homick) used with permission to post. If you are not yet following her on FB, stop what you're doing (including reading this) and check out her page. Thanks Mary!!! Your images capture the magic I feel when walking around a cemetery- it's not just a historic site, it's not just where people are buried, it's that timeless space betwixt and between life and death.
Interesting side note- this cemetery (of ALL places) was not included in the Florida Master Site File! How can that be? There was a site form titled, "Bosque Bello Cemetery," but it wasn't until we pulled the form for our CRPT course there in May 2012 that we realized the site form documented a prehistoric midden. The archaeologists must have named the prehistoric feature due to proximity to the cemetery. It wasn't common then to record historic cemeteries, and at that point it might not have been considered very old! A great example of how times change and how cemeteries have gained relevance in the field of cultural resources. And don't worry, we added it last year to the FMSF (8NA1245 - the 1,245th historical resource recorded in Nassau County).
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| Photo by Historic Cemeteries, used with permission. |
Who: Managed by City of Fernandina Beach
What: Large, undulating active cemetery with variety of monuments, headstones, historical markers
Where: 1321 N. 14th Street, Fernandina Beach, FL 32084 Link to Google Map
Where: 1321 N. 14th Street, Fernandina Beach, FL 32084 Link to Google Map
When: Open dusk till
dawn 365 days a year
Why: - Established by the Spanish in 1798
- Name means Beautiful Woods
- Sisters of St. Joseph's Catholic Nuns from France who tended to sick during Yellow Fever
- Look at it, just look at it!
- More from Historic Cemeteries (used with permission):
- Pictures by us schmo's:
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| Toni's favorite pic of Bosque Bello. |
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| Headstone of the "King of Shrimp" |
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| Sister's of St. Joseph from France who nursed those afflicted with Yellow Fever. |
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| Gate posts, possibly entry gate before cemetery expanded. |
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| Woodsmen of the World! For more. |
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| City has many resources, including this blue print of the cemetery. |
Text and schmo images: Sarah Miller, FPAN staff, gate picture submitted by Toni Wallace, FPAN staff.
Stunning pics used with permission by Historic Cemeteries (Mary Homick). Did you understand you were supposed to drop everything and follow her, follow her now? :) https://www.facebook.com/HistoricCemeteries
For previous posts search: Cemetery a Day in May or #CaDiM
Intro, May 1: National, May 2: Oakdale, May 3: Murphy's Creek, May 4: Mt. Olivet