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An Archaeological Analysis of Lakeview Cemetery

Maddeline R. Voas

University of Central Florida

Spring 2013

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Lakeview Cemetery is one of several cemeteries that line the

West side of 25th street in the Florida town of Sanford. However,

other than the African American Page Jackson cemetery, this

cemetery in particular dates back to 1884. The origin date

precedes what would be considered modern, albeit there are a

minor amount of recent headstones found on the cemetery plot

indicating that Lakeview Cemetery is a historic cemetery as

opposed to a modern cemetery. This paper will outline the

morphological differences seen in a late nineteenth century and

early twentieth century cemetery, paying special attention to

distinctive graves and the prevalent constructions of headstones

and designs for this cemetery. The project’s overall hardships

and growth of understanding for the mortuary landscape will be

addressed accordingly.

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Figure 1: Lakeview Cemetery Plan

My initial pick for this cemetery analysis was the Swedish

New Upsala cemetery that is also in Sanford. I was unable to find

an indefinite address for this cemetery location; therefore I

called Sanford City Hall who then forwarded me to the local

Sanford curator. She then suggested visiting Lakeview cemetery

instead because there was an excessive amount of variation seen

in the cemetery in headstone type, symbols, epitaphs, and so

forth. The cemetery itself had distinctive character with unique

headstones and an overabundance of societal symbols on the

headstones. My first reaction to the cemetery was the notion of

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being overwhelmed due to the overabundance of gravestone imagery,

an endless assortment of headstone materials, and a range of

headstone types from the usual domed tablet stone to an

iconography of a firefighter with a linen scarf tied around his

neck.

Lakeview cemetery is one of several cemeteries found in the

historic grid area of Sanford, Florida. It lies along a myriad of

cemeteries beginning with All Souls Catholic Cemetery and ending

with Page Jackson cemetery. Entering the Lakeview cemetery is

mildly overwhelming as there are over one thousand marked

internments and three other preceding cemeteries before it with

just as many internments or more. Centrally located on the

cemetery grounds is a large gazebo initially used for funerary

processions that is currently experiencing cracks in the pavement

from what I assume are from minor sink holes. I consider this an

option due to the flagged off grassed area that was indicated as

a small sink hole in the middle of the cemetery grounds. Most of

the headstones have not fared well over the years due to the

sandy terrain in Florida and substantial gravestone weathering.

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There is great variation in age seen on the headstones. Many

buried at Lakeview were elderly or sub-adults, and there was

still a substantial amount of marked burials that were at an

Figure 2: Entrance view of the funerary gazebo

adult age. As for tombstone construction, many of the grave

markers were flat markers or ledger stones. There were wedge

stones, obelisks of varied size, vaulted obelisks, bolsters,

octagonal headstones, companion markers, exedras, box tombs, and

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tombstones in the shape of tree trunks associated with Woodmen of

the World. Most of the burials were made of either limestone or

marble with a few of the newer time period headstones being made

of granite. Almost all of the grave markers in family burial

plots were ledger stones surrounded by a “wall” and family stone

depicting their last name. The family stone was positioned in the

opening of the family plot gates where you could access the grave

markers for each individual in that family plot. From my

perspective, it faintly resembled a door mat you may find at the

foot of the front door to a family home. The family plot easily

allows one to associate the kinship patterns seen within the

cemetery.

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Figure 3: The family stones of “Shoemaker” and “McDougal”.

Figure 3: A bench placed at end of burial for mourners. Figure 4: Example ofan octagonal headstone.

Figure 5: Example of an uncommon cylindrical headstone.

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All single burials faced a West-East position pattern which

is reminiscent of many Christian burials (Pearson 2000, p. 6).

The story was different when it pertained to family plots

however. In order to fit the ledger stones within the walls of

the family plot, some of the burials ended up facing a North-

South or South-North orientation. It’s doubtful that this

orientation exceeds the measures of functionality, and is

therefore moot to describe a deviance from the traditional

Christian grave orientation commonly seen in North American

burials. Many of the epitaphs are simplistic in nature merely

portraying the deceased individual as a “Mother”, “Daddy”, or

“Loving Husband and Father”. There are also religious epitaphs

explaining a resurrection and eternal life. One epitaph was

peculiar in nature and that was the ledger stone of Mary Evans;

her epitaph read “She lived for others”.

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Figure 6: Example of an epitaph: “She lived for others”.

Figure 7: Example of a Woodman of the World headstone.

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Figure 8: Example of ledger stone not facing the conventional West-Eastorientation in a family plot.

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Segregation was a major issue found at Lakeview and the

surrounding cemetery of Page Jackson. Although Page Jackson was

not the primary study, it was still noticeably different than

Lakeview cemetery in location, headstone construction, and

upkeep. A local newspaper named The Sanford Herald covered the

historical aspects of this cemetery area and even described a

fence that once stood to segregate Page Jackson from Lakeview

cemetery (Hendricks 2008, np). After conducting a survey of

headstones in Lakeview, I proceeded to drive the narrow dirt road

that connected the two cemeteries. Almost all of Page Jackson was

hidden behind trees and overgrown brush and family plots were

surrounded with chain link fences. The graves were closer

together than what was seen at Lakeview and the majority of the

grave markers were temporary markers made of metal with a few

tablet stones. The difference of Lakeview and Page Jackson was

the representation of social identity based on the predisposed

notion of racial segregation, in both life and death, of African

Americans. Parker Pearson also mentions that segregation can be

also attributed to age differences (Pearson 2000, p. 15). There

was a designated section of Lakeview dedicated to infant

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mortalities and children called “Babyland”. The graves were

marked by flat markers with either the name of the infant or

identifying the infant as a baby such as “Baby Maria”, and so

forth.

Social status was easily identifiable within Lakeview

cemetery, especially in the family plots. Towards the back of the

cemetery a family plot had a grave fence made of cinder blocks

that greatly contrasted with the grave fence made of roman-style

columns. The more elaborate headstones made of better materials

could be associated with wealth whereas the metal temporary

marker that was used as a permanent marker identifies itself with

a lower social status. Other items were a part of the burial

site, such as benches constructed in front of headstones for

mourners to come and pay tribute to the grave of the deceased.

The extra effort put into burial sites, such as a bench, also

reflected wealth.

Symbolism associated with this cemetery was profusely rich

with many representative icons, societal symbols, and design

motifs. On a metal marker in front of an unreadable headstone

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there was a symbol of an elk representing the Benevolent

Protective Order of Elks, which according to Schmidt and

Babchuck, is a fraternal organization of primarily actors who

Figure 9: The comparison of an upper class family plot (left) and lower class

family plot (right)

were known for providing care for less fortunate actors (Schmidt

& Babchuck 1972, p. 4). On several of the headstones there were

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square and compass symbols which represent the Freemasons,

another fraternal organization that stems out of medieval roots.

Another fraternal organization that was found on headstones was

that of the Order of the Eastern Star, which comprises of Masons

and women who are related to a Mason. The symbol for The Imperial

Council of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic

Shrine was found on the headstone of a male. The representational

symbol is of a sword on top of a bowed object with a star in the

middle. This fraternal organization is also linked to the

Freemasons and Arabic ideals, with an unknown purpose to all

except who are the deep rooted members of this organization

(Stevens 1907, p. 1).

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Figure 10: (1) is The Imperial Council of the Ancient Arabic Order of theNobles of the Mystic Shrine, (2) is the Freemason symbol, (3) is the Order ofthe Eastern Star, (4) is the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, (5) is a

religious cross known as the Maltese cross, (6) is a symbol for devotion, (7)is a daisy symbol for rebirth, (8) is a combination of 2, 4, and 11, (9) is awreath symbol for triumph in death, (10) is a lamb symbol of innocence, (11)

is the Woodmen of the World, & (12) is unknown.

There were various representative icons atop or within the

headstones of individuals’ graves. Atop many sub-adult headstones

there was a seated lamb sprawled out across the tops of tablet

stones. Cooper describes the lamb as a symbol of innocence or

sacrifice (Cooper 2008, p. 35). The views associated with

childhood and infancy is of innocence and untimely death. There

were numerous broken vases on graves which is representative of

the loss of a life. An abundance of flowers were portrayed in the

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funerary art upon the headstones within Lakeview, which are

symbolism of “the frailty of life” (Cooper 2008, p. 35). One

example of an engraved flower is a bouquet of daisies at the base

of a ledger stone within a circle. According to Keister, there

are many interpretations of a daisy in funerary art, and can be

portrayed as rebirth, egotism, the heavens, and the underworld

(Keister 2004, p. 46-47). Since it is engraved within a circle,

which represents eternal life, perhaps the daisy symbolizes

rebirth or a resurrection which in turn symbolizes eternal life

even further.

Figure 11: Example of a broken vase at the head of the internment; symbolizesdeath.

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This cemetery had some extraordinary additional features,

such as a statue of a fireman with a cloth scarf tied at the

neck, which was used as a headstone. Although I have found no

supporting evidence for this, I noticed a high amount of urns

turned upside down at the ends of ledger stones. I found this to

be extremely peculiar because there were still upright urns that

followed the same pattern: at the foot of a ledger stone. My

interpretation stems from what an urn symbolizes: death. An

upside down urn perhaps symbolizes resurrection or eternal life

in the afterlife. There was also a horse buried at the grave

site, named Bob. The March-April newsletter of 2010 for the

Sanford Historical Society identifies T.J Miller as the owner of

the horse as well as an undertaker of a local funeral home and

designer of Lakeview cemetery. Bob was the designated horse that

pulled the town’s only hearse into Lakeview cemetery and during

every funeral would stand under the gazebo mentioned in the above

paragraphs. Miller wanted Bob to be remembered, and therefore he

buried his horse at the entrance to Lakeview cemetery. Bob’s

headstone does not face a West-East orientation, but instead

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faces out to the dirt road that leads one through the various

cemeteries located in this area.

Figure 12: Example of an upside down urn at the foot of internment (left) asopposed to a commonly placed upright urn (right)

Figure 13: Image of the fireman statue used as a headstone. Figure 14: Imageof the burial of Bob the Horse.

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The main difficulty that I faced was trying to locate

Lakeview cemetery. After ending up at a local supermarket

numerous times due to my GPS, going in and asking for help,

determining the latitude and longitude of the coordinates found

on a map at “Find A Grave”, and stopping into a local gas station

not too far from the site, I was still just as clueless and lost

in the town of Sanford as when I had arrived off the interstate.

A gas station one block away from the site claimed there were no

cemeteries in the area and this surprised me because the cemetery

was located five minutes from this very gas station. I decided to

keep driving and out of pure luck, I finally found the cemetery.

I also felt extremely overwhelmed upon entering the cemetery due

to the countless grave markers and the fact that the sun was

setting soon because I had wasted much of my time trying to

locate this cemetery.

After visiting Lakeview cemetery, it was interesting to note

the differences between a cemetery central to the time period of

late 19th to early 20th as compared to a modern day cemetery. The

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headstones of deceased individuals at Lakeview identified with

societal groups, such as O.E.S, and the local community they were

from. Many of the headstones mentioned celery farming in

identifying with the deceased, which was a part of local Sanford

life in this time period. As the Hallowed Ground article

mentioned, cemeteries of the past had a strict focus on social

status and the societal role that the individual played in their

lifetime (Miller & Rivera 2006, p. 2). I had noticed that there

weren’t many Christian religious symbols upon the headstones, and

this is relevant in the Hallowed Ground article as it was noticed

the Christian symbolism generally found in American cemeteries

were on a decline in 18th and 19th centuries (Miller & Rivera

2006, p. 4).

The best aspect of this research was learning about the

symbolism associated with graves. I had not noticed how symbolism

entwines itself even in death, and to me this was a unique and

interesting concept to learn about. I learned that by studying

how the living buries the dead, there is a lot to say about

social standing and personal views associated with the deceased

in tombstone construction, style, epitaph, and place of

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internment. Many of the burials had not received care in recent

years, as some of the above ground ledger stones were cracked

open, headstones lay on the grass away from the base and

internment, flat markers were buried beneath the overgrowing

grass, no flowers were present at the tombstone, and many

headstones were beginning to sink. This contrasted greatly with

the burials that still had family presiding over the tombstone.

This reminded me of Kevin Gidusko’s lecture on Florida’s historic

cemeteries, because some historic cemeteries that are not well

known do not receive the required upkeep. It disappointed me

greatly that in one hundred years, headstones are forgotten and

forlorn and respect diminishes as evidenced in the excessive

amounts of trash at the cemetery site.

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Figure 14: Image of disturbed individual plots.

Figure 15: Image of broken headstone.

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Figure 16: Image of Overgrown grass over a flat marker headstone.

Figure 17: Image of broken headstone.

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Figure 18: Image of broken obelisk.

Figure 19: Image of exposed internment.

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References

Clarke, A. (2010, March-April). Sandfords oldest funeral home [Electronic mailing list message]. Retrieved from http://sanfordhistory.tripod.com/newsletters/mar2010.pdf

Cooper, G. (n.d.). Stories told in stone. (2008). Kentucky Historical Society,43(2), 34-35. Retrieved from

http://www.folklife.ky.gov/pdf/Publications/Ancestors_v43n4.pdfb

Keister, D. (2004). Stories in stone: a field guide to cemetery symbolism and iconography, 46-47. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith.

Miller, D., & Rivera, J. (n.d.). Hallowed ground, place, and culture. (2006). Rowan University,

Pearson, M. P. (2000). The archaeology of death and burial. College Station, TX: TAMU Press.

Schmidt, A., & Babchuck, N. (n.d.). Formal voluntary organizations andchange over time: a study of American fraternal associations. (1972). Sage, Retrieved from

http://nvs.sagepub.com/content/1/1/46.full.pdf

Stevens, A. (1907). The cyclopædia of fraternities. (2nd ed.). E.B. Treat and Co.