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Los Empleados del Gulf Power Restauraran un Pedazo de Historia Afroamericana y Limpiarán Cementerio Abandonado
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Gulf Power Employees Restore a Piece of Black History and Clear Overgrown Cemetery By Kimberly Blair, Gulf Power Company PENSACOLA, Fla. —  Using trimmers and saws and a lot of brute force yanking on vines, a team of Gulf Power volunteers carved a path into a patch of densely overgrown woods to uncover a black (African American) section of the Old Muscogee Cemetery, forgotten by society and families alike. A smaller group fanned out to collect garbage — a whopping one ton of discarded fuel tanks, a broken toilet, paint cans, tires, clothes, a cooking pot, drink cans and pounds and pounds of beer bottles — surrounding both the white and black sections of the cemetery. “It’s really sad that people who come here have to look at so much trash when they visit their loved ones. Not only is it sacrilegious to pollute hallowed ground, but it’s also extremely thoughtless and cruel when the Perdido Landfill is literally five minutes away,” said Gulf Power volunteer, Lindsey Box. The cleanup was a partnership between Gulf Power Environmental Stewardship and Northwest Florida Water Management District to help begin restoration of the late 1800s cemetery, located a stone’s throw from the Perdido River in west Cantonment. Steve Brown, senior land manager for the Water Management District, said, “This has been a project we’ve wanted to do for some time, but it’s very sensitive,” he said of the fragile condition of the historic gravesite. “We can’t go in with large equipment. The only way to do the brushing back and clearing out is to use hand labor.” “Cleaning  up the cemetery is key for this area because a lot of historic sites in Northwest Florida are being lost to time and a lack of money and materials to get them restored,” Jeff Cole, of Environmental Affairs Stewardship, said. By the end of the workday, the team revealed six headstones and numerous indentations that are believed to be unmarked or vandalized graves. Among the graves are three marked sites of the Owens family — Elise Owens, 1885-1961; Sam Owens – 1880-1957; and what may be a son or relative, Huston Owens, 1927-1962. Huston’s head stone indicated he served as a steward’s mate 2nd class in the United States Navy Reserve. When volunteers carefully brushed away layers of decaying leaves from his cracked, concrete tomb, they discovered a weathered U.S. flag, dusted it off and gently draped it over his headstone. As the cleared circumference expanded, a marble monument was released from saplings and vines. Deeper in the woods the small headstone of John Brown emerged from a thick blanket of decaying leaves with hard-to-read lettering that identifies him as a war veteran. Monuments and marble headstones that still exist are testaments to the story of Muscogee, a once a thriving timber town-turned-ghost-town. Founded in 1857 it once boasted four mills, a school, post office, train depot and fire station before the lumber industry pulled up stakes and moved on. Eventually, many of the estimated nearly 500 citizens moved on too, leaving behind their family plots. About two decades ago, a citizens group began restoring the neglected white section of the cemetery but many of them passed on or become too old to do the work, according to local historian Helen Allen, who has championed the restoration of the cemetery. At the time, with no apparent family members to tend to the black section, the woods reclaimed that land. And no one had any idea how many graves rested underneath the brush and vines. Because of its location on the Perdido River, the Water Management District purchased the land encompassing the cemetery from International Paper Company in 2006 and took over maintenance. “As the new owners, we’ve taken over the responsibility of the cemetery because we want to do what we can to restore its integrity,” Brown said. “That’s why we are so thrilled to have the portion of the cemetery cleared out. In the future, we hope to find a university or volunteer historians willing to survey the cemetery and further the restoration.” |
"Es muy triste que las personas que vienen aquí tienen que mirar tanta basura cuando visitan a sus seres queridos. No sólo es un sacrilegio para contaminar tierra sagrada, pero también es muy desconsiderada y cruel cuando el relleno sanitario de Perdido está literalmente a cinco minutos ,” dijo Lindsey Box voluntaria de Gulf Power. 
Entre las tumbas son tres sitios marcados de la familia Owens-Elise Owens, 1885-1961; Sam Owens - 1880-1957; y lo que puede ser un hijo o un pariente, Huston Owens, 1927-1962. en la lapida de los Huston,s indica que sirvió como compañero de 2ª clase de un administrador en el United States Navy Reserve.