As part of this week's Florida Emancipation Day observance, dozens of people were taking a bus tour of some of Tallahassee's oldest grave sites on Monday, April 18. These ancient cemeteries contain the remains of enslaved people who made up the majority of the community's residents before the Civil War.
The Betton Hills Neighborhood is one of those grave sites. It's a final resting place for those who labored at the old Winthrop Plantation, which encompassed the property. Tallahassee historian Dr. Larry Rivers was giving cemetery visitors an appreciation for its importance.
"I really think it's so appropriate that we remember those enslaved human beings who helped to build Florida."
Part of that remembrance, said Mario Taylor with the Betton Neighborhood Association, is the careful tending and preservation of those gravesites.
"This is one of the cemeteries that we have now, not only rediscovered, but worked very hard to bring it back to the stature it should be."
Neighborhood resident Ashley Hopkins regularly cleans the ancient tombstones as a labor of love. She uses the gentle techniques favored by archeologists that prevent damage to the fragile artifacts.
"I think it's just important to keep the memory of these places alive. By cleaning and maintaining the headstones, we're able to keep them in good shape for longer so their memory can live on," she said.
Other bus tour sites on Monday included the Munree and Hickory Hill graveyards on Miccosukee Road.
