Cemetery a Day in May: Gravelly Hill (Duval County)

May 13, 2013

Cemetery a Day in May: Gravelly Hill (Duval County)

Cemetery Log Date: May 13, 2013

Gravelly Hill is a cemetery within a cemetery with a 134 year old mystery contained within. Surrounded on all sides by Riverside Memorial park, Gravely (or Gravelly) was the private family burial ground of the Miles Price family, a Confederate Veteran. According toUSGenWeb archives by Sally Wilkins, military burials include: 23 confederate veterans, a Union veterans, 5 WWI vets, and two Spanish-American War veterans.

But the reason Gravelly Hill is one of my favs: mystery of the third longest living Confederate veteran. See for yourself:

I'm always the skeptic, so I can not accept the date. However, there are some interesting pieces of evidence that the claim may be true. Check out this 1924 article that featured James when he was 109. I was thinking maybe he was too young to serve in the army, so foraged his age as many soldiers did to sign up. Or Matt Armstrong wrote in with this bit of information:

Matt Armstrong - according to a book called The South’s Last Boys in Gray by Jay S. Hoar, the 3 oldest civil war vets are as follows: "Ranked third oldest was Mark Thrash, Tennessee, 120 years, 11 months, 22 days at death on Dec. 17, 1943; second oldest, Sylvester M. Magee, Mississippi, 130 years, four months, 17 days at death on Oct. 15, 1971; and oldest, James E. Monroe, Florida, 133 years, 11 months, 24 days at death on June 28, 1949."

Who: Maintained by City of Jacksonville

What: Cemetery within a cemetery- surrounded on all sides by Riverside Memorial Park
Where: 7242 Normandy Boulevard, Jacksonville - Link to Google map

When: Open dawn to dusk 365 days a year

Why: