Cemetery a Day in May: Tolomato Cemetery

Cemetery Log Date: May 8, 2013

Historic Cemeteries, used with permission.

Hope you're sitting down, this may take a while.  Tolomato Cemetery, located in downtown St. Augustine, is Florida's oldest extent cemetery.  That means it's not the oldest cemetery- thousands of unmarked native and Colonial cemeteries pre-date Tolomato, but it's the oldest one with headstones intact.  

Who: Owned by Catholic Diocese, managed by Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association (TCPA)

What: Roughly one acre inclosed historic park, well maintained
Where: 14 Cordova Street, St. Augustine Link to Google Map

When:  Open 3rd Saturday of each month or by appointment with TCPA

 Why: 

•  Oldest extent cemetery in Florida, established in 1777 but there is no doubt there are burials that predate this time
•  Former location of Tolomato Mission site prior to 1763
• Closed in 1884 due to city ordinance, town began to use San Lorenzo further down on Hwy 1
• In 1777 Father Pedro camps obtained permission to use as burial site.  He was himself buried in Tolomato in 1790, but moved ten years later to the Cathedral Basilica
• Too many burials to mention here, but TCPA has done a great job listing them on their website

 Stunning images, to lure you in, from FPAN favorite Historic Cemeteries (Mary Homick, used with permission):

For more:

Historic Cemeteries Tolomato Photo Album

Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association Webpage
Tolomato Cemetery Times (Blog)

Text: Sarah Miller, FPAN staff, images used by permission from Historic Cemeteries. For previous posts search: Cemetery a Day in May or #CaDiM