JANE NEWHAGEN: I’m a taphophile—a person who is fascinated by cemeteries, funerals, gravestones and the like. We’re not a morbid bunch, rather we’re interested in the stories that lie behind the monuments and the individuals who lie beneath the ground.
It won’t surprise you, then, when I tell you that for fourteen years I was the Archivist at the Key West City Cemetery. I was responsible for patching together information about the graves there dating from 1847 when the cemetery was founded. Five years ago, I started the Cemetery Strolls. Held on three Saturdays during the winter season, the strolls are guided tours to significant gravesites where volunteers tell the stories of those who are buried there.
One reason I enjoyed being Archivist was because of a special plot that led to my writing three historical novels, Sand Dollar, Pieces of Eight, and Chambered Nautilus. It’s not coincidental that the first one, Sand Dollar, starts out just before the great hurricane of 1846 when the original cemetery was blown away with bodies in the trees and gravestones coming to rest halfway across the island. All three novels are based on the lives of the permanent residents of Lot 49 on 4th Avenue in the cemetery.
Yes, the cemetery streets are named just like city streets. There are eight numbered avenues and Palm Avenue. They’re crossed by Clara, Magnolia, Violet, Laurel, and Higgs Streets. The Catholic section is in the north corner and the Jewish cemetery in the east corner, but you’ll find people of all faiths and ethnicities buried side-by-side throughout the cemetery.
The gravestone most tourists want to see belongs to Pearl Roberts. Pearl’s frequent complaints of ill health led to her being written off as a hypochondriac, but Pearl was right. She died in 1979 at only 50 years of age and her memorial marker on the family mausoleum reads, “I Told You I Was Sick.” Gloria Russell’s memorial is there, too. It says, “I’m just resting my eyes.” I often say that myself, and I think of Gloria whenever I do.
Thomas Romer (1783-1891) is buried on Fourth Avenue. He was an African-Bahamian who served in the War of 1812 as a privateer. His headstone attests to his 108-year life and his standing as a “good citizen” for sixty-five years. We choose to believe that the reference is to the fact that he became a naturalized American citizen at the age of forty-three, not that he was a good citizen for sixty-five years and not so good for the rest of his life.
William Curry’s monument is the most imposing one in the cemetery. Curry (1824-1896) was a very successful businessman and became Florida’s first millionaire. His descendants live here today. Some years ago the big urn on top of the monument was pushed over by an encroaching tree. It took scaffolding and a crane to restore it to its rightful place. As you can imagine conservation and restoration of these old monuments is an ongoing job. It’s expensive, too. The Historic Florida Keys Foundation manages conservation and restoration and relies on grants and contributions from the Cemetery Strolls for funding.
Some of the statues are more expressive than others. The face of the lovely angel memorializing Mary Navarro appears to weep when climactic conditions are right. Her family was visiting New York City in 1901 and she warned her daughter Rosa not to go near the window. Rosa did and fell to her death. Mary died of a broken heart not long after. The monument shows the mother angel admonishing the child angel to behave.
Sadly, we don’t know who is buried in some of our graves. Maybe the markers were wood and deteriorated over time. Maybe the cemetery sexton was illiterate or didn’t have a sense of the importance of his records. Most of the early graves were in family lots and at the time “everybody knew” where the Curry or Lowe or Roberts lot was, so that’s what is written on the burial card. Today there are dozens of lots with those names and, without more information, it’s anybody’s guess where those individuals are located.
You can see my enthusiasm for the history of Key West and its people. It was my great pleasure to research and write my three historical novels: Sand Dollar, Pieces of Eight, and Chambered Nautilus. They’re tales of old Key West and firmly grounded in historical facts. In fact, I followed the pattern of the earliest family members as seen in their cemetery plot and fictionalized their stories. They’re available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon. I hope you’ll take a look.
I also had the privilege of writing the text for After Life ~ Images from the Key West Cemetery. It’s a visual presentation of the cemetery with photographs by Carol Tedesco and Roberta DiPiero. It’s also available from Amazon.
Are you a lover of cemeteries? Do you have a particular favorite?
I also had the privilege of writing the text for After Life ~ Images from the Key West Cemetery. It’s a visual presentation of the cemetery with photographs by Carol Tedesco and Roberta DiPiero. It’s also available from Amazon.
Are you a lover of cemeteries? Do you have a particular favorite?
Jane Newhagen was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and graduated from Brown University. She’s lived up and down the east coast and Paris, France and came to Key West in 2000. Jane received the Richard Heyman Recognition Award from the Anne McKee Artists Fund of the Florida Keys for Pieces of Eight and again for the third novel in the series, Chambered Nautilus.
Jane recently retired from working at the Key West City Cemetery after fourteen years as Archivist. There she organized and digitalized burial records. In her spare time she volunteers for Take Stock in Children, a scholarship program for gifted, needy students. She enjoys classical music, traveling, and is a voracious reader.
