Thursday, November 23, 2023

Franklin County Commissioners have agreed to write a letter of support to get state money to preserve an abandoned cemetery at Box-R ranch just west of Apalachicola

Franklin County Commissioners have agreed to write a letter of support to get state money to preserve an abandoned cemetery at Box-R ranch just west of Apalachicola.

The request for support was made by Willie Tolliver, whose family moved to Franklin County in 1910.

He said that two of his ancestors, including a grandmother, are buried at the site, but there are no headstones or other markers indicating who is buried where.

They don’t even know how many graves are at the site.

The Florida Department of State, however, has a program to help protect and preserve abandoned cemeteries.

Mister Tolliver said that the program will provide up to 50 thousand dollars which would allow for an archaeologist to help find the graves and even do DNA testing to find out who is buried there.

That would allow families to place gravestones on the site.

Mister Tolliver said he needs a letter of support In order to apply for the money, which the county commission was more than happy to give.


Commissioner Cheryl Sanders said there are a number of abandoned cemeteries in the county and maybe those could be investigated in the future.


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