Spirit Central: The Huguenot Cemetery of St. Augustine

*Originally published June 16, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing. 

A visit to one of the most haunted cities in the country wouldn't be complete without visiting its famed cemeteries. Established soon after Florida became a US territory, the Huguenot Cemetery is in a high traffic area of downtown St. Augustine, just outside the Visitor Center and across the street from the Old City Gate.

It was first used for the interment of victims of the 1821 yellow fever epidemic, then for burial of members of the city's Protestant population. The burial traditions and funerary materials demonstrated at Huguenot, compared with the nearby Tolomato Cemetery (established by the Catholic Church in 1777), highlight both the differences and commonalities in funerary and religious practices and traditions of the two distinct groups residing in 19th century St. Augustine.

The Huguenot Cemetery's primary significance is derived from the fact that it was the first cemetery in St. Augustine dedicated for Anglo-American civilians rather than preserved strictly for members of the Catholic faith.

The grave markers at Huguenot display a range of the funerary art popular in the 19th century, including finely carved headstones by skilled stone masons popular in the 1820s-40s, false box tombs with inscribed ledgers, and elaborate monuments that were in favor during the Victorian period.

The work of several prominent stone carvers from the southeastern US has been identified at the cemetery, among them Thomas Walker, as well as members of the White family, who had shops in Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina.

The cemetery property was sold to the Presbyterian Church in 1832, and they have maintained ownership and care of the land since then.

By the late 19th century overcrowding of graves, along with the resulting concerns for sanitation and public health, resulted in the closing of the small public  and religious burial grounds of St. Augustine. New cemeteries, including the San Lorenzo and Evergreen, were subsequently opened to parishioners and the public.

After the cemetery was closed to burials in 1884, the church continued maintenance of the grounds. Some restoration efforts were made in 1946 and again in 1951.

It eventually became necessary to keep the cemetery gates locked and to restrict visitation to the site. While this kept the property relatively secure from vandalism and theft, natural weathering and deterioration of the grave markers continued.

Since 1989, organizations associated with the Presbyterian Church and dedicated to the preservation of the cemetery have been formed and have continued to work tirelessly to keep the grounds in shape and to keep alive the memory of the approximately 436 people buried within the cemetery grounds.

They have documented the Huguenot Cemetery's grave markers, researched the genealogical information about those buried there, made measured drawings of some of the significant gravestones and box tombs, and restored grave markers.

To prevent damage and negative impact to the grounds due to large numbers of visitors, members of the Friends of the Huguenot Cemetery group conduct guided tours of the cemetery at specified times of the week.

Every ghost tour we've taken in St. Augustine included a stop at the Huguenot Cemetery to hear its history, some ghost stories, and to provide a photo taking opportunity. Of course the gates are locked to the ghost tours, but no tour of the haunted history of St. Augustine would be complete without a stop by the most haunted cemetery in the old city. Some of Huguenot's most famous ghostly encounters include:

~ Little Elizabeth, the yellow fever victim known to lurk around the Old City Gate, has also been spotted among the trees near her burial site. She's been known to wave to guests she encounters. It's said sightings of her are most common between midnight and 2am.

~ Judge John Stickney passed away in 1882, leaving behind his orphaned children who were sent to live with family members in the north. Years later as adults, the children chose to have their father's body exhumed and re-interred in Washington, D.C., closer to their home. On the exhumation day, the grave diggers took a short break, and when they returned, they found that thieves had stolen the judge's gold teeth. To protect their jobs, the workers closed up the casket and said nothing in the hopes that no one would notice. It is believed that this act of thievery haunts the old judge and inspires him to haunt the cemetery. His tall dark figure is said to have been spotted during both the day and the night walking around the graves, apparently searching for something.

~ Some who have toured Huguenot Cemetery have heard the sound of a man laughing.

~ Others have heard leaves crackling or bushes moving but have found nothing around that could reasonably be considered the source of the noise.

Attempts to capture paranormal experiences at this sacred burial ground often end the same way: photos with glowing orbs, flashes of light, shadows appearing behind people, and strange mists. In most cases, however, visitors take dozens of pictures only to find that they don't have anything unusual in them.

St. Augustine itself radiates a supernatural quality. I myself can attest to the fact that you can actually feel this quality around you as the sun goes down. It's no wonder, considering that from antiquity all the way to modernity, the city has been embroiled in events of blood and violence. 

Tribes of natives have butchered each other. There have been colonial periods rife with genocide, war, pirate raids, famine, and plagues. When modernity made its entrance, St. Augustine devolved into a haven for smugglers, rum runners, carpet baggers, and corrupt officials. The bay upon which the city sits is itself called Matanzas, Spanish for slaughter. Nearly every landmark in the city has a story of violence and death. For a while, those villains and their victims were laid to rest in the Huguenot Cemetery.

Huguenot Cemetery

A1A & Orange Street

St. Augustine, FL  32084

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Tolomato Cemetery: One Acre With Centuries of History

*Originally published June 22, 2021 as a promotional piece. Some information may be missing.

Tolomato was in use as a cemetery from the 18th century until 1884, when all of the old cemeteries in St. Augustine were closed and new cemeteries were established. It is the final resting place of approximately 1,000 St. Augustine residents, including many people important to the history of Florida and the United States.

The cemetery is located on the site of what was once an early 18th century Franciscan  Indian Mission, Our Lady of Guadalupe of Tolomato. The Indian group was made up of Guale Indians from Georgia. Tolomato was the name of a place, potentially a river, where they lived before they came to St. Augustine during the 16th century after attacks from hostile tribes. They moved to the current site during attacks by British forces from South Carolina and Georgia that destroyed the Florida Missions in the 1700s.

When the Minorcans arrived in 1777 after their rebellion in New Smyrna, they brought their priest, Fr. Camps with them. Patrick Tonyn, the British governor of St. Augustine at the time, granted Fr. Camps permission to bury the deceased members of his parish in the "old Catholic cemetery" of Tolomato. This was the beginning of the use of the grounds solely as a cemetery.

The Minorcans buried in Tolomato are the ancestors of many St. Augustine residents, and there are large numbers of documented burials from the 18th and 18th centuries. All burials in the cemetery ceased in 1884, when all cemeteries within the city limits were closed, one of the reasons being the fear that they assisted in the spread of Yellow Fever.

Of course cemeteries had little to do with the spreading epidemic, but no one knew that until 1905 when Dr. Walter Reed identified the mosquito as the source.

The cemetery is the resting place of people from all the diverse groups that created St. Augustine, including Spanish, Minorcan, Irish, African, Greek, Italian, and 19th century Southern and Eastern Americans.

For over 100 years, Tolomato Cemetery was the parish cemetery for what is now known as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, located about a half mile away on the plaza.

Although there are over 1,000 known burials in the cemetery, there are little over 100 markers. Our present day knowledge of the burials comes from the parish death records, most of which are held in the Diocesan Archives on Aviles Street.

The cemetery is still owned by the Cathedral Parish and the Diocese of St. Augustine, and they have maintained and protected it over the years. 

There are a number of historically important burials on the grounds, including the graves of the Sisters of St. Joseph, veterans from both sides of the Civil War, and Freedmen who fought with the Union.

It is also the burial site of important religious and political leaders; including the Second Spanish Period Governor, Enrique White; General Georges Biassou of Haiti; the first Bishop of St. Augustine, Bishop Agustin Verot; and Father Felix Varela of Cuba, whose canonization process is underway.

The small white chapel, the distinctive feature of Tolomato, was built to hold his remains by some Cubans who had been students of Father Varela in the seminary in Havana along with some of his friends in New York City.

Tolomato also holds the oldest extant marked burial in the state of Florida, the above ground vault of 16 year old Elizabeth Forrester, who died and was buried in 1798.

Over the centuries, the inscriptions and features on many of the stones have worn away, but those that can be read have been preserved. The cemetery owns historical photos of markers that have been gone since before the memories of anyone currently associated with the cemetery.

Although the cemetery officially closed to burials in 1884, the last actual burial on the grounds took place in 1892. Two such unauthorized burials, one in 1886 and the second in 1892, caused the families of the deceased to incur fines of $25 each for violating the law.

The cemetery opens to the public for tours on the third Saturday of each month, and private tours can be arranged with two weeks prior notice with donations requested for private tours.

Tolomato is one of the regular stops on the St. Augustine ghost tours, of course. My favorite ghost story about the cemetery is the story of Little James, who enjoyed climbing the ancient live oak just inside the cemetery gates. In November 1877, just ten days after his 5th birthday, he slipped and fell while climbing the old tree, snapping his neck and dying instantly. 

James is buried in Tolomato under the oak he loved, and although his family owned additional plots for themselves, they were so devastated by his loss that they moved away from St. Augustine and never returned. 

The spirit of Little James himself is believed to remain within the cemetery, having been spotted by children and adults alike playing within the cemetery grounds as well as perched high in the branches of his favorite old live oak.

There are other stories about hauntings at the Tolomato Cemetery, but I'll leave them out of my story here in the hopes that you'll choose to participate in one of the many fun and educational tours available in St. Augustine that includes a stop outside the Tolomato Gates.

Tolomato Cemetery

14 Cordova Street

St. Augustine, FL  32084

904-257-3273

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Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum

Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati is the largest cemetery in the state of Ohio and the third largest in the United States. Chartered in 1845, its founders, the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, drew influence for its design from Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France, and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Photo Credit: Gardens of Greater Cincinnati

Named for the springs and groves found within the rolling hills of the cemetery and, notable graves include Civil War General Joseph Hooker, feminist/abolitionist writer Frances Wright, Kroger founder Bernard Kroger, and both the father and son of President William H. Taft.

Landscape architect Adolph Strauch detailed intricate plans for ornate tone fountains, peaceful lakes, carvings of angels, and beautiful greenery and flowers. The results of his initial design have made the cemetery widely regarded as one of the most beautiful in the nation. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Dexter Family Mausoleum
Photo Credit: J. Miles Wolf

REPORTED MANIFESTATIONS

The Dexter Family Mausoleum, shown here, sits off on a more secluded cliffside location. Two teens claimed to have seen ghostly white dogs with blue flaming eyes growling and howling from the mouth of the crypt. It's been said that seeing the dogs is a bad omen.

Workers in the cemetery have also occasionally reported white wolves patrolling the area surrounding the crypt. (For reference, there are absolutely no wild wolves in the Cincinnati area).

There have also been many reports by workers that something or someone grabbed their legs.

I haven't been able to locate any video, photographic, or audio evidence of any of these manifestations to say they happened or to prove they were faked.

I can, however, speak with some authority regarding the bust of Charles Breuer, which sits at the center of a large obelisk above his grave. It is said that the eyes of the bust follow visitors as they walk around, and one visitor reported that one of the eyes came free from the bust, still watching him as it rolled on the ground. It was even rumored by some that the eyes in the bust were actually the real human eyes of Breuer himself.

Grave of Charles Breuer
Photo Credit: A Grave Interest

In actuality, Charles Breuer was a optometrist. He chose to have glass eyes installed in the bust, which is why they look so realistic and seem to follow you as you walk back and forth before the grave stone. There is nothing supernatural about the grave of Charles Breuer.

My overall assessment is that Spring Grove Cemetery likely contains nothing more than the average supernatural energy of any cemetery: it is a peaceful resting place for souls who have crossed over and may occasionally enter our plane to give reassurance to cemetery visitors that they have reached the afterlife.

The stories of hauntings are few, and most likely the result of overactive imagination, such as with the story of the teens seeing dogs guarding the mausoleum doorway. Teens in a cemetery at night? It's easy to see where this story came from.

As always, however, I cannot say with certainty that I believe a place is haunted or not without an investigation or some kind of documentation of the haunting, but the information here can give some background for anyone looking to plan a ghost hunting trip of their own.

Do you have any information or personal experiences to share about this entry? Let us know in the comments, and your contribution could be included in a future update to this entry!