Fifteen Florida Cemeteries

Florida’s buried history comes to life

"Cemeteries are as much a place for the living as they are for the dead, and Lola Haskins brings to life some of the interesting people buried in <i>Fifteen Florida Cemeteries</i>. Along with local history information about the cemeteries and the towns where they’re located, she highlights fascinating stories of many people buried there. This book is a fun, informative read for those enamored with cemeteries."--Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, author of Your Guide to Cemetery Research

"With a poet’s insight, Lola Haskins reveals varied chapters of Florida’s fascinating history in an unusual way: by visiting some of the state’s most distinctive cemeteries. Readers will find themselves in the company of a delightful guide with an eye for quirky details (the gravestone that reads ‘See Reverse Side’) and for spooky tales. But we also find in Haskins a sympathetic companion who understands the great issues of mortality and grief we confront in cemeteries."--Joy Wallace Dickinson, author of Remembering Orlando

Lola Haskins takes readers on a tour like no other. Travelling to Florida’s most interesting cemeteries, she visits Napoleon’s nephew, tells the gruesome story of a man who dug up his love and lived with her for seven years, and even shares a murder mystery.

Whether the final resting places of Civil War soldiers killed in battle or of the four-hundred-year-old remains of nuns peacefully interred by their shell-studded chapel, each plot has a unique story to tell. The 1918 flu epidemic, for example, comes alive in five graves behind a small white church overlooking the Santa Fe River: four children and their mother, dead within a week of each other.

Each chapter features a substantial description of (and driving directions to) a particular location, an overview of the local community, and an extended profile of one of that cemetery’s most interesting "residents." Haskins also includes first-person reflections on mortality, on what it means to die and to grieve for the dead, and fact-filled discussions of changing burial practices and religious beliefs. She even visits a pet cemetery and a racehorse cemetery, sharing stories of a ghost dog and a horse that got a speeding ticket.

Award-winning poet Lola Haskins has written twelve books and is a contributor to The Wild Heart of Florida.