Chesnut* Cemetery is the oldest in Apalachicola and full of local history and lore, and it’s a timeline of what over 100 years of eeking out an existence along the coastline can bring to a community. From drownings and boat explosions to cholera and “Yellow Jack” [which wiped out an entire town nearby] to war [brothers who fought and died for opposite sides of the Civil War are buried together] this area witnessed much in the cycle of living and dying…
In a cemetery full of interesting historical finds this is one of my favorites. My one and only experience with a fence as a type of grave marker…
Catherina Spano was born to Irish parents May 17th, 1853 in Florida and died October 29, 1900 in Apalachicola. She helped her husband, Salvador Spano from Lipari, Italy, become a successful seafood merchant and a prominent fixture in the community. Nowadays, because of her unique grave and the family’s contributions to the area’s seafood history, her burial plot is an important stop on historical tours.
This zinkie is another spot on the historical tour but this stop is usually reserved for Halloween and the time of year where we talk about all things ghastly ghostly. Behold the grave of the supposed murderess Maria Hickey.
Marie and her husband Patrick were some of the wealthiest folks in town but money did not protect them from tragedy. I’ve read varying stories about why it happened – some say that Marie had mental health issues and had only returned home from an asylum not long before the murders ocurred – but how it all ended was clear. Marie drugged Patrick and badly slashed his throat twice before she fled the home and then cut her own throat. Patrick lived a short while and was able to tell the story but he eventually died of his wounds.
Marie is buried next to her father and her plot boasts a white bronze gravestone with the simple inscription ℝ𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕀𝕟 ℙ𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕖 and peaceful imagery of crosses, anchors and flowers.
Patrick’s grave? Well, it is a good distance away. As in a different city cemetery. He rests within his family’s plot across town with a matching but badly damaged zinkie.
While that story is a tragic one there are more many to be shared and a lot of interesting things to research…
If you like shells then you are in luck! You’ll find bits of seashells just about everywhere and many large collections that were left on burial sites have been lost due to modern mowing techniques. Nowadays it not uncommon to see an old grave marked with a simple wooden cross, topped with lots of conch shells and then surrounded by fluorescent orange tape.
There’s a informative and updated walking map here. After finding out about it after I had already returned home, I’m so sad that I missed the chance to photograph the grave of pioneer doctor and botanist Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman. He wrote the first comprehensive description of U.S. plants in the Southern region aka the popular Flora of the Southern United States. I also missed the headstones that mark the graves of William and Mary Fuller, free African-Americans that owned Apalachicola’s fanciest hotel during the mid-1800s. There’s a photo here.
Well, I always say a missed opportunity is just an invitation to go back! And back I’ll go…
*The Apalachicola Historical Society has documentation that the OG spelling of this cemetery is most definitely Chesnut but you’ll find modern documents with the spelling Chestnut. So I’m using the older name here just because I like the sound of it. Southerners are notorious for dropping some consonants so why not add a few letters to something here and there?
