When in 1875 the town of Orlando was incorporated  the population was not very large. So at the given time there was no need for a large city graveyard. Many settlers were being married right on there property. Other settlers after there passing were buried to small plots like Conway, Powell's, or Beasley burial grounds which were more in suburban areas or rather a few miles away from what is downtown Orlando.  Eventually the deceased were buried near Highland Lake and even downtown near St. Luke's Cathedral and the Tremont Hotel. Today there are no signs of these burials since many buildings were built atop of these burial grounds. 

The problem was that as the city was growing so were the dead. So the local citizens began to request a place of burial. A dean for a southern Florida newspaper did some work and articles to stir up the local people for action on what to do with the dead.  A group of 8 Orlando residents bought John W. Andersons land who perished and 26 acres of land was laid out. This land was very unique had many rolling hills. By 1880 the cemetery was incorporated and called Greenwood. I believe it was called that because of its green luscious canopies and grassy hills. Eventually fourteen acres were added to the cemetery and then in 1911 another forty acres owned by the city as legislature city boundaries were changed.

There is another tale about a cemetery downtown Orlando which ran out room for burials. So when downtown began to grow the burials which were next to the church and school were transferred to Greenwood Cemetery. Sad to say they did not recover all of the coffins and a few remained or were not found. But at the time when some of them early settler graves were dug up from Fort Gatlin. However in 1890 it was apparent that such a large cemetery required alot of work keeping it up as at that time its rolling green hills were over run with brush and high grass. Eventually in 1892 this led to a fire and destroyed many of the cypress tombstones some of the first burials in Greenwood. 

But over time after the city took control of the cemetery this place became one of the nicest Cemeteries and largest in the state of Florida. At one time there were many entrances here but due to housing developments and trying to keep people out there is only two entrances into this very foreboding place. There is many different sections that were set aside for various burials for example there is a Spanish American War Burial area then another area set aside for infants called Baby Land and even a Civil War Section so it is a fairly nice organized cemetery. Many famous burial family plots reside here names like Beecham, Hand and Parramore.

There is also many other prominent guest buried here as well some say many major league ball players are here. Then there is names like Charles Oscar Andres a US Florida Senator and Spanish American War Veteran buried here. Then William Thomas Bland a US Congressman for Missouri. Just to mention one last name how about Joe Tinker a Major League Baseball who was indicted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. These are guest here at Greenwood so this gives you an idea how grand of a cemetery this is not as grand as Forest Lawn Cemetery up in NY or Mount Hope in Rochester but nonetheless for a Florida Cemetery it is gorgeous.

Today near the cemetery is a place called the Greenwood Urban Wetlands which was the winner of the 1990-91 Public Technology Achievement Award. This is a place with lakes, bridges, and a scenic setting. Many people use the wetlands for weddings and picnics as well as jogging or sport activities. 

There are quite a few ghost stories I have heard about this place one is about a caretaker searching for a plot location for a family. He was new and reading the map he had upside down. Well since he was going the wrong way all of sudden he felt a tug on his arm and felt as if he was not alone. He felt as if he was dragged the opposite direction. When he looked at the map he realized that he was going the wrong way and heading to the wrong section. Was an entity trying to help assist him? You decide! But my opinion of this place is that it has a serene setting I almost felt sleepy here and started to doze off near one of the pine trees. But more so you will see we really did not capture much our first investigation here. Which is fine because we are planning a much larger scaled investigation on our second trip here. 

Then when Hurricane Charley came through my first hurricane I been through it uprooted 80 large oak trees and damaged 300 others. The city stated that the entire cemetery looked like a war zone but surprisingly its all cleaned up just missing a few canopies:) But with the hurricanes of 2004 a piece of history was lost in most cemeteries as many old oaks fell upon stones.  

This year to date there is over 60,00 burials here and the oldest burial that is at least visible is from 1880 before this time were burials but when the cemetery started on fire those cypress markers were burned and that was that as far as the records go. So what we have here is alot of history and perhaps alot of haunts which hopefully we can bring you these in future investigations. Many mysteries reside in this grand cemetery.

© By

Rick-AngelOfThyNight

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