It's not every city that has an above ground burial site as picturesque as this one, but Key west does. New Orleans' cemeteries are more famous but Key West has the same problem of a high water table making it difficult to bury people in the conventional Western way, deep underground.
The original cemetery near Higgs Beach was washed away in a hurricane which left bodies and coffins in an unsightly mess so the city moved the cemetery to the edge of town, in the middle of the island in 1847. That the city has spread and surrounded the cemetery is just a measure of the passage of time.
The cemetery is 19 acres in size and has various different ethnic groupings scattered around. There's the Catholic corner and the Jewish corner, the everybody else middle and a couple of fenced off bits for the Cuban martyrs and the sailors of the USS Maine. 
It's worth a walk as Key West history is on display here among the many family plots. My wife and I took a guided tour by a docent from the Historical Society which was quite fascinating.
Curry and Knowles are two well known family names in Key West, but there are lots of stories in this graveyard worth telling. A proper guided tour is well worth the time for anyone interested in the past of this City.
The original cemetery near Higgs Beach was washed away in a hurricane which left bodies and coffins in an unsightly mess so the city moved the cemetery to the edge of town, in the middle of the island in 1847. That the city has spread and surrounded the cemetery is just a measure of the passage of time.The cemetery is 19 acres in size and has various different ethnic groupings scattered around. There's the Catholic corner and the Jewish corner, the everybody else middle and a couple of fenced off bits for the Cuban martyrs and the sailors of the USS Maine. 
It's worth a walk as Key West history is on display here among the many family plots. My wife and I took a guided tour by a docent from the Historical Society which was quite fascinating.Curry and Knowles are two well known family names in Key West, but there are lots of stories in this graveyard worth telling. A proper guided tour is well worth the time for anyone interested in the past of this City.
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