#oaklawn cemetery

[ghoulishxheart]

Oaklawn Cemetery

Atlanta, GA

#cem

[reasoningdaily]

GREENWOOD, Dist. – On the 102nd anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Tulsa Community Remembrance Coalition honors unknown victims with a solemn soil collection ceremony at Standpipe Hill in the Historic Greenwood District. The gathered soil, collected from both Standpipe Hill and Oaklawn Cemetery, honors those whose lives were tragically lost during this dark and painful moment in history.

The exact number of victims who perished in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 remains unknown. However, estimations range from 300 to upwards of 500. The event, which took place over a two-day period from May 31 to June 1, resulted in widespread destruction and loss of life in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as “Black Wall Street.” However, due to the chaotic nature of the massacre, the destruction of records, and a lack of comprehensive investigations, an accurate and final count of the victims has never been determined.

Recent efforts to uncover the full extent of the tragedy continue, including through forensic investigations and testimonies from survivors and their descendants.

Greg Robinson, a member of the Tulsa Community Remembrance Coalition, emphasized the significance of gathering at Standpipe Hill. “It is amazing that we honor those unknown who were lost in the Tulsa Race Massacre. That we do it here on truly sacred ground – that actually represents the greatness of what Black Wall Street was, is and will be into the future,” Robinson shared. He then honored the American World War I veterans who lost their lives. “It is not lost on us that we honor veterans on this day as well,” Robinson added. 

During the ceremony, Kristi Williams, a member of the Tulsa Remembrance Coalition and a descendant of the massacre, delivered a poignant reading. Through her words, she reminded everyone in attendance of the historical significance of the Tulsa Race Massacre and shed light on the countless victims whose identities have been lost to time, emphasizing the need to remember and honor them.

“Less than two dozen victims have been documented by name, but research has estimated that hundreds of Black men, women and children died in the massacre,” Williams sternly explained. 

During Williams’ address, she shared an intriguing detail about the majestic hackberry tree standing tall on Standpipe Hill. She then revealed that this remarkable tree possesses a special ability to grow thick bark over the areas that were once damaged by fire, creating a protective shield against future harm, explaining that its resilient characteristic serves as a metaphor for the community’s ability to heal and endure in the face of adversity.

Williams proceeded to recount the heroic tale of Horace ‘Peg leg’ Taylor, a World War I veteran. She described how Taylor courageously positioned himself atop Standpipe Hill, wielding a gatling gun, and valiantly defended the hill for hours, providing a vital shield for the residents of Greenwood as they sought to escape from the violent White mob.

US Veteran Kenneth ‘K.Roc’ Brant, who works for the Terence Crutcher Foundation, shared a deeply personal reflection on the mental struggle he faced during the Centennial of the Massacre back in 2021. 

He recounted the challenge of honoring both the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre and the veterans during the centennial commemoration, which coincided with Memorial Day weekend. 

“That weekend weighed heavily on me. [I was] torn as a Black military veteran and a Black man living in Tulsa,” Brant shared. At the ceremony, Brant recited a poem he wrote called “Holding Space” to express the thoughts and feelings he experienced. “This weekend, we remembered that some gave all. Here in Tulsa, we remembered that some took all. How do I hold space for both?” Brant said.

Brant’s individual story sheds light on the emotional and psychological battle he endured during his time in service and while navigating the complexities of what Black soldiers experienced during the Massacre upon their return to Tulsa after WWI.

[cwnerd12]

#31DaysofGraves Day 17: Urn

Oaklawn Cemetery, Plant City, Florida

[mikesimonsphoto]

Search for 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre burials winding down until next year - Just as the City of Tulsa began a 2 o'clock news conference, workers in heavy equipment covered the last of the exposed graves with dirt.  The current phase of the project, started in late October, uncovered an additional 32 burials in the southwest corner of Oaklawn Cemetery identified as a Black potter’s field, State Archeologist Kary Stackelbeck said. Eight were exhumed for further study. https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/racemassacre/search-for-1921-tulsa-race-massacre-burials-winding-down-until-next-year/article_a4d5f530-6786-11ed-a2f5-4f0c94231298.html#tracking-source=home-top-story #tulsa #tulsaracemassacre 

[allthenewzworld]

The latest search for the remains of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims has ended with three more sets found with gunshot wounds, investigators said.

The three are among 11 sets of remains exhumed during the latest excavation in Oaklawn Cemetery, state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Friday.

The search is the fourth since Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum launched the project in 2018 and 47 remains have now been exhumed.

"My hope is, regardless of who the next mayor is, that they see how important it is to see this investigation through," Bynum said. "It's all part of that sequence that is necessary for us to ultimately find people who were murdered and hidden over a century ago."

The massacre took place over two days in 1921, a long-suppressed episode of racial violence that destroyed a community known as Black Wall Street and ended with as many 300 Black people killed, thousands of Black residents forced into internment camps overseen by the National Guard and more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches destroyed.

📸 by Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP, File,

[localbizprofiles]

Courthouse Building and Downtown Postal Station, Oaklawn Cemetery, and the Tampa City Hall.

[hbhughes]

Mary Alice (Molly) Sanfilippo

Mary Alice (Molly) Sanfilippo, 76, of Masonic Drive, Dallas, passed away on the morning of Sunday, April 21st.

Born in Kingston, she was the daughter of the late Frederick and Mary Carroll Ertley. She graduated from Kingston High School, class of 1964 and attended Wilkes College. She was married to Michael J., the love of her life for 53 years.

Molly was a gentle soul who always believed in the goodness of others. She was also one of the most honest, patient, and compassionate people. She and Mike loved each other dearly and as they grew together throughout their marriage, their hearts and souls truly became one.

Molly loved working at Mercy Center in Dallas, PA, for more than 22 years. She loved the sisters and as only they could do, they loved her back. She often said that she should never have retired. She also became a Mercy Associate and attended meetings and an overnight retreat with Michael, which was sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy.

Preceding her in death are her sisters, Ann Robb, and Joan Rinehimer.

Surviving besides her husband are her son, Michael J., Jr., of Wyoming, and his wife, Debbie; grandchildren, Michael III, and Joseph A.; many nieces and nephews.

Friends may call on Friday at Mercy Center, Dallas, from 9:30 AM until service time.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, April 26, 2024, at 10:30 AM, at Mercy Center, 300 Lake Street, Dallas, with Father Carmen Perry, the celebrant. The private interment will be in Oaklawn Cemetery, Hanover Twp. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Hugh B. Hughes & Son, Inc. Funeral Home, Forty Fort.

[wutbju]

Dorothy Mathews Walker died to this life October 14, 2022. The funeral service for Mrs. Walker will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022 at Fort Valley United Methodist Church, 301 West Church Street, Fort Valley with the Reverend R. Scott Walker, son of Mrs. Walker, officiating. Burial will immediately follow at Oaklawn Cemetery, 720 South Camellia Boulevard in Fort Valley.

Mrs. Walker was born on Dec. 29, 1921 in Fort Valley to Robert and Edna Mathews. She graduated from Fort Valley High School in 1939 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Bob Jones University. In 1946 she married Dr. Elbert H. Walker, Th.D. The couple lived in Florence, S.C., where he was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church from 1949-1957.

In service to others, as she was for much of her life, Mrs. Walker joined her husband in appointment as Southern Baptist missionaries in the Philippines from 1957-1965. Dr. and Mrs. Walker taught at the Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary in the city of Baguio. Dr. Walker died tragically in 1965, and with her two young children, Mrs. Walker returned to Fort Valley, where she worked as an elementary school teacher until 1972.

After teaching, Mrs. Walker was employed by the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU) of the Georgia Baptist Convention in Atlanta, where she served for many years. She also became Children’s Minister of First Baptist Church of Pensacola, Fla. before her retirement.

Mrs. Walker retired in Savannah as a proud, happy grandmother and was lovingly called “Mama Dot” by her five grandchildren. She was a member and ordained deacon of First Baptist Church of Savannah. Mrs. Walker also lived in Monroe in her retirement and was active and engaged in the ministry of First Baptist Church Monroe as well as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

At nearly 101 years old, Dot lived a wonderful life and was adored by her family and many friends. She was committed to faithful service of the church wherever she was and is remembered fondly, particularly as she lovingly and dutifully raised her two children for many years after her husband passed away.

She is survived by her children R. Scott Walker (Beth), of Macon and Donna Walker Mixson (Mike) of Ellijay and grandchildren Drew Walker (Katie Alice) of Columbia, S.C., Luke Walker (Jessica) of Atlanta, Jodi Walker of Asheville, N.C., Dylan Mixson (Lauren) of Dahlonega and Ryan Mixson of Edinburgh, Scotland as well as four great grandchildren and two step great grandchildren.

Her family wishes to thank the directors and staff of The Oaks Nursing Home in Marshallville, Ga. for their dedicated love and care of Mrs. Walker in her final years. Rooks Funeral Home in Fort Valley is in charge of arrangements.

[insideusnet]

Body with gunshot wound found in search for Tulsa Race Massacre victims : Inside US

Body with gunshot wound found in search for Tulsa Race Massacre victims : Inside US

A body with a bullet core in its skull was uncovered during the search for victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre at Oaklawn Cemetery. As excavation and lab analysis work continued at the cemetery, a forensic anthropologist discovered one of the three sets of human remains exhumed last week contained a gunshot wound. | MORE | From the KOCO 5 Archives: Interviews with Tulsa Race Massacre survivors“At…

[creaturesfromelsewhere]

Gardens of Stone

Let’s face it, as far as cool, gothic cemeteries go, Central Florida certainly wasn’t first in line.  Sure, there’s perennial favorite Greenwood in Orlando, & Tolomato in St. Augustine (which has bragging rights to oldest marked grave in the state), but during these trying pandemical times, Greenwood is closed on weekends & Tolomato is always closed.  Thus, it is the time to shine for Oaklawn Cemetery in Tampa.

Oaklawn, a fine example of southern gothic, was founded in 1850 & is located right in downtown Tampa at 606 E. Harrison St.   Once it was two cemeteries separated by a fence, the other being Saint Louis Catholic Cemetery, but the fence is gone now & one can freely pass between.  Oaklawn is amazing.  As Stefan from Saturday Night Live might say, “This place has everything:  grey stone walls, wrought iron fences with creaky gates, twisted & deformed trees deliciously draped with Spanish moss, neglect & decay, ghosts, & the bouncer is a bulldog who looks like Wilford Brimley & the password is ‘diabeetus.’”  Well, maybe not that last part - took the Stefan analogy too far. 

But seriously, Oaklawn is a must-visit for the darkly inclined on any excursion to the Tampa Bay area.  Just a mile and a quarter from Ybor City, and right off I-275, Oaklawn is easy peasy to find and right in the heart of things.  Parking is the only issue.  On a weekday...well, just avoid it on a weekday.  On the weekends, however, there’s parking as far as the eye can see (you still have to pay for it, of course - Tampa politicians like to buy nice things for themselves, you know).

Once inside, your icy, black heart will soar on demonic wings.  First off - blessed shade!  Shady spots under Florida’s pitiless sun are worth their weight in cursed pirate treasure, and Oaklawn has an embarrassment of riches.  Cast aside, if only temporally, that SPF 100 sunscreen my obsidian clad brethren & cease your squinting and cowering; Oaklawn has you covered - literally.  And just to make that shade extra dense, the trees are positively drenched in sheer Spanish moss.

If there’s one thing Oaklawn is lacking, that would be mausoleums.  It has but one, a rather modest red brick structure with four internment chambers within - two used perhaps, and two definitely unused.  As with much of the rest of the grounds, the structure is not in the best of shape and as it is unlabeled, somewhat mysterious.

The visuals throughout Oaklawn are stunning and I imagine many a goth has photos of themselves posing before one or another of the plethora of interesting graves.  For anyone with even a minor interest in photography, the multitude of textures, the interplay of light and shadow, and the fascinating juxtaposition of natural vs artificial offer abundant visual studies.  Here are some examples, minus the goth.

The perfect location for the stereotypical goth picnic or just for a late afternoon stroll, contemplating one’s own mortality or just to examine the stone sentinels, Oaklawn doesn’t disappoint.  Although many of the gravestones are worn to silence, some are remarkably well preserved and carry their missives boldly, Entropy be damned.  Take, for example, the obelesk for one John F. Brown who died in 1867, which appears almost new. 

While others...not so much.  Take the shattered slab which covers one Thomas J. Cook, for example - did someone break in, or did someone break out? 

As with most gardens of stone, it is always interesting to visit with the locals.  Let’s meet young Valeria Butzloff, daughter of Paul & Anne who lived from April 29th, 1886 to October 12, 1907, during the height of the Victorian Age.  We are even provided with a remarkably well preserved memorial photograph of the lovely Valeria, likely taken just before her passing. 

To her right lies her father, Paul, who died 11 years later & to her left is a plot for her mother, which doesn’t seem to have been used, but it was prepared and includes a statue, perhaps of Valeria which has sadly lost it’s head, shoulder, and a hand.  Apparently, her mother is interred at nearby Woodlawn Cemetery which was founded in 1888.

And that’s where our knowledge would end, except for the wonders of the world hive mind.  A quick search dispels some of the mists of the past & reveals Valeria’s obituary which lists place of death as Denver; her mortal remains being returned to her grieving parents via one final journey upon this mortal realm. 

Valeria’s story is but one of scores, hundreds, waiting to be discovered.  How Valeria died & under what circumstances seems to be lost to time.  Unless you ask her ghost.  Yes, Oaklawn is said to be haunted, & although Valeria is not thought to be one of apparitions seen, perhaps one of the permanent residents is an acquaintance & can pass along a message.  Regarding that, I’ve been to Oaklawn many times, and have walked by at night many more times, but I never saw anyone of the spectral inclination loitering about. 

Or, perhaps I’m just unlucky?

-CreaturesFromElsewhere  1/21/2021

[babylon-crashing]

Another grave from Oaklawn Cemetery in Idlewild: “Lived his way.” 

[ghostghoul]

Reader Submission: The Hanged Man

Reader Submission: The Hanged Man

In 1882, a transient named Charles Owen reportedly broke into a Tampa home and attempted to rape a young woman inside. Authorities arrested Charles, but he never got a trial. Instead, an outraged mob broke into the jail and hanged Charles soon after his arrest. Now, the hanged man reportedly haunts Tampa’s historic Oaklawn Cemetery. Here’s a story I received from a reader who’s sure she…

[amanofcolours]

Please join @kaitsvvan and myself for our second Oaklawn Cemetery Workday (606 E Harrison Avenue, just north of downtown Tampa.) We’re basically picking up debris, tidying up the graves, marveling at the history and learning from and teaching one another! Look forward to seeing you there! #oaklawncemetery #oaklawn #cemetery #grave #headstone #tree #nature #photograph #picture #pic #justshoot #camera #shoottokill #snapshot #photographer #artist #amanofcolours #photo #amocphotography #photography #photographyart #photogram #art #tampa #iphonography #everydaytampa (at Oaklawn Cemetery) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgnF5SpJ8kr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[equinoxparanormal]

USF researchers scan Tampa's Oaklawn Cemetery for lost graves

The city's oldest cemetery is the final resting place for at least 1,000 early Tampa residents — pioneers, Confederate soldiers, victims of yellow fever, pirates, 13 mayors and slaves — but there might be even more.

So this March, anthropologists and students from the University of South Florida brought ground-penetrating radar and other equipment to Oaklawn Cemetery and the adjacent St. Louis Catholic Cemetery to search for and map unmarked graves.

"This is like an outdoor museum," said Jeff Moates, regional director of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. "You come here and you learn about Tampa, how the city was founded, all the people that had a role and played a part."

Oaklawn was designated as a public burial ground for "White and Slave, Rich and Poor" in 1850, when the city's population was about 500.

But many of the original grave markers were carved from cypress or other wood and rotted or disappeared over time. Tampa didn't get rail service until 1884, so importing granite headstones for the earliest graves required bringing the heavy monuments into town by some combination of sail, steamship and wagon.

What's more, during the Civil War an 8-inch shell landed in the cemetery during a naval bombardment of Tampa in 1862.

After the war, the original map of the cemetery was lost. And Oaklawn contains two mass graves — one for 102 soldiers and early settlers at Fort Brooke, which was abandoned before Oaklawn was dedicated, and another for at least 88 victims of five outbreaks of yellow fever between 1853 and 1887.

The result is a partial but colorful mosaic of local history.

One grave marker says simply:

Charles Owens

Hanged

1882

Perhaps Oaklawn's best-known headstone is for former city clerk William Ashley, who was white, and Nancy Ashley, an African-American servant and longtime companion. Historians say Oaklawn is one of the few graveyards in the nation where slaves and slave owners can be found in the same plots.

The Ashleys' marker says:

Here lies

Wm. Ashley and Nancy Ashley

Master and servant

Faithful to each other in that relation in life, in death they are not separated

Stranger, consider and be wiser.

In the grave all human distinction of race or caste mingle together in one common dust

USF researchers are using ground-penetrating radar and a magnetic gradiometer to spot anomalies in the soil or bits of metal from coffins or clothing that could mark lost graves, and GPS technology to map the site.

"What happened here happened a lot of places," said Tom Pluckhahn, an associate professor and archaeologist in USF's Department of Anthropology. "This cemetery is 150 years old. Headstones get knocked over. We've also got slave graves here that were probably never really marked very well. . . . So over time, the location of the graves becomes obscure."

The search comes amid ongoing city-supported efforts to restore the historic cemetery, including pressure-washing the stone wall surrounding Oaklawn and clearing away trash left by vagrants.

Preservationists also want to petition the National Park Service to bestow national historic landmark status on the graveyard.

Data compiled by the USF team over the next few weeks will go into a database of the site, at 606 E Harrison St. on the northern edge of downtown.

"There's an opportunity for us to bring this back and let people understand the history that is here, and how significant this cemetery is," Buckhorn said Friday.

And, for the mayor, it also was a chance to revel in a spot where history and politics come together.

Asked to roll a piece of ground-penetrating radar equipment over an area of possible unmarked graves, Buckhorn asked, "If we identify them, can we get them registered to vote?"

[Richard Danielson, Tampa Bay Times]

[getoutofthisplace]

Dear child(ren),

Death is a strange thing. And so is the business of moving on, but we don’t get to opt out of either.

Dad

Searcy, Arkansas. 3.23.2017.