Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: In 1897 Mrs. Mary Brickell sold this 10-acre “rocky wasteland” to the City of Miami for $750. It was a half mile north of the city limits on a narrow wagon county trail. The first burial, not recorded, was of an elderly black man on 14 July 1897. The first recorded burial was H. Graham Branscomb, a 23-year-old Englishman on 20 July 1897. From its inception it was subdivided with “whites on the east end and the colored population on the west end.” In 1915 the Beth David congregation began a Jewish section. Two other sections are the circles: the first, Julia Tuttle, the “Mother of Miami” buried in 1898; the second, a memorial to the Confederate Dead erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. There are 66 Confederate and 27 Union veterans buried there. Other sections include a Catholic section, American Legion, Spanish American War, and two military sections along the north and south fence lines. Among the 9,000 burials are pioneer families such as the Burdines, Peacocks, Sewells, Gilberts and Dr. James Jackson. The five oolitic limestone markers are the only known worldwide. Restoration was led by Enid Pinkney and Penny Lambeth of the African-American Committee of Dade Heritage Trust and TREEmendous Miami.