Cemetery a Day in May: Mt. Olivet
Cemetery Log Date: May 4, 2013
Mt. Olivet is located northwest of Green Cove Springs city center. It is a large, still operating burial ground with many of the county's first families interred here. We first visited the cemetery when scoping out locations for a CRPT course. When we learned about the Forrestor family, first free African-American family in the county, we decided to run the workshop in February 2012 to coincide with Black History Month.
The cemetery held a secret we discovered only on that day...when we went to clean Affie Forrestor's gravestone, only when we rinse did we realize it was her birthday!
If you're in town, definitely stop by Clay County Archives and visit Claude and Vishi. They are very knowledgeable about the county's history and passionate cemeterians. They'd be happy to show you documents relating to many of those buried in Mt. Olivet.
Who: Community cemetery, still in use
What: Began as potter's field, variety of monuments, headstones, historical marker
Where: Corner of Oakridge Ave N and MLK in Green Cove Springs, Clay County Link to Google Map
Where: Corner of Oakridge Ave N and MLK in Green Cove Springs, Clay County Link to Google Map
When: Open dusk till
dawn 365 days a year
Why: - Clay County's first free African-American family, the Forrestors, are interred here.
- Family of Augusta Fells Savage
- First internments date to the 1880s
- One of my favorite stones, A Friend of Susie's (see below). Who's Susie? Is her friend human? A beloved pet?
Before, during, and after cleaning of Affie Forrestor's grave.
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| Vishi giving tour of the site. |
For more information:
African-American History in Clay County
Find a Grave: Mt. Olivet
Text & Image: Sarah Miller, FPAN staff.
For previous posts search: Cemetery a Day in May or #CaDiM
For previous posts search: Cemetery a Day in May or #CaDiM