The Key West Cemetery (officially, ''Historic Key West City Cemetery'') is a cemetery at the foot of

Solares Hill Solares Hill is the highest point of land on the island of Key West in the lower Florida Keys in Monroe County, Florida. Solares Hill derives its name from Victorio Solares, born on 30 April 1849 in Coya, Asturias, Spain Spain, or the ...

on the island of

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people are buried there, many more than the 30,000 residents who currently live on the island. It is in the northwest section of the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

area of the island.

History

In 1847 it was established at its current location after an 1846 hurricane washed dead bodies from the earlier cemetery out of the coastal sand dunes on Whitehead Point near the West Martello Towers. An African Memorial Cemetery was dedicated beside the West Martello Tower in 2009. Slaves, ill from the sea voyage to slavery in "The New World," were buried there prior to the US Civil War. In 2005, the cemetery was among those profiled in the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary '' A Cemetery Special''. One headstone has a birthdate of 1792. Another records a death in 1843.

Notable grave sites

* “Sloppy” Joe Russell (1889-1941) * B.P. “Pearl” Roberts (1929-1979) - “I Told you I was Sick.” * Gloria M. Russell (1926-2000) - “I’m just resting my eyes.” * Miriam Albury (1882-1933) - Stuffed bunny on the grave for 14+ years * Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos (1909-1931), a local beauty during 1920s, grave unmarked due to her infamous grave robbing by Carl Tanzler, a German radiology technician who had an obsession with her

Gallery

Keywestcemetery2.jpg, "A los martires de cuba" Section for Cuban independence fighters in the

Ten Years' War The Ten Years' War (; 1868–1878), also known as the Great War () and the War of '68, was part of Cuba's fight for independence from Spain. The uprising was led by Cuban-born planters and other wealthy natives. On 10 October 1868, sugar mil ...

Key West Cemetery Battleship Maine.jpg, Battleship ''Maine'' memorial section Keywestcemetery4.jpg, Area containing Confederate Navy sailors' graves Keywestcemetery3.jpg, Historic Angel grave marker Keywestcemetery.jpg, Some newer graves are put in above-ground vaults, similar to the cemeteries in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, since the space for below-ground burials has become increasingly limited. Keywestcemetery5.jpg, Many older graves date back to the mid-1800s and are weathered, broken and\or illegible. Sir Peter Anderson.jpg, Grave of the Secretary General of the Conch Republic: Sir Peter Anderson DeerGrave.jpg, Grave of a deer belonging to a Key West family

References

External links

Aerial View from Google Maps
* {{Authority control

Cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

Cemeteries in Florida Buildings and structures in Monroe County, Florida 1847 establishments in Florida Historic American Buildings Survey in Florida Cemeteries established in the 1840s