The City of Apalachicola recently received a $50,000 historic preservation grant to document, research and develop a plan to preserve gravesites in the City’s historic Chestnut Street Cemetery.
Chestnut Street Cemetery is located on Highway 98 between 6th and 7th Street. It is the City’s oldest cemetery dating back to 1831 – a year before the City was even incorporated. Many of Apalachicola’s most prominent founders are interred here along with confederate soldiers, union soldiers, freed slaves, yellow fever victims, and famous botanist, Dr. Alvin W. Chapman.
The grant will fund a detailed survey and report of the cemetery and the gravesites, along with detailing conditions and recommendations for preservation and restoration of the historic area. Initial survey and documentation work is expected to begin this summer and development of a final restoration plan is expected next spring.
The cemetery, a popular visitor attraction, was the site of a “Ghost Tour” last Halloween in which members of the Apalachicola Historic Society dressed in period costumes to share history and lore about the area and its early inhabitants.
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