Cemetery a Day in May: West View (Putnam)

Cemetery Log Date: May 10, 2013

Historic Cemeteries (Mary Homick), used with permission.

West View Cemetery is located just west of city center in Palatka.  I was first introduced to this cemetery by Christy Sanford who volunteers for the tourist information center downtown.  Our first ever CRPT was held in Palatka back in September 2011 in partnership with the city of Palatka.  Why was Palatka so keen?  They manage four historic cemeteries!  Workshop participants included many from the city, from Keep Putnam Beautiful, and two special cemetery stewards Lynn and Mary also known as the Angels of West View.  It was they who first introduced the term "cemeterians" to me during the ice breaker, just perfect way to describe us study and love historic cemeteries.   

West View is chalk full of famous Floridians, but what I love about West View is the love.  Throughout the historic section, and following through to the more recent internments, sweet sentiments are found on headstones, benches, and monuments.  A bench in the back that says, "My moon, my stars," where a mother once came to visit her son before she was herself interred next to him, is one of my favorite places in Florida.  I stop every chance I get and feel for a moment the love that mother had for her son.  Strangely enough, not every cemetery can do that.

Historic Cemeteries (Mary Homick), used with permission.

Who: Owned and managed by City of Palatka

What: Large active cemetery with large historic section
Where:   Link to Google map

When:  Open 365 days a year, dusk to dawn

 Why: 

•  Florida’s first governor under statehood William Dunn Moseley (1795-1863)
• Physician and mayor of Palatka Edmond Walter Warren (1875-1935) 
• Politician Howell Anderson Davis (1873-1957) 
• Northwest Volusia County businessman Barney Dillard- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings used Dillard’s life as a pioneer, musician, and historian as source material for many of her stories in The Yearling (1939) (Poertner 1999).

Stunning images from Historic Cemeteries to lure you in...(I swear I try and load just a few but then can't help myself!)

For more:

Six Feet Under with Sarah: West View

Westview Cemetery
Nowhere Near the Ordinary: Westview

*Note: signage in cemetery use both spellings, West View and Westview.  Search both if looking for more information.

Text: Sarah Miller, FPAN staff.  Images: Historic Cemeteries (Mary Homick), used with permission.

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. Olive, May 5: Bosque Bello, May 6: Old City, May 7: Espanola, May 8: Tolomato, May 9: Pacetti, May 10: West View