Along the way when you are heading into Cedar Key in you will come across a stretch of road that is full of dark woods and eerie dirt roads. This area is known as Rosewood. Rosewood was a massacre the KKK came in the town burning it down killing many blacks during times when segregation existed. None of the town remains except the well, general store, and train car out back. I could not get to them I tried a dozen places. Not to say that down some of those dirt roads structures did not exist cause they did they just no longer stand today. But I had to visit Rosewood because it was by request of some of our members therefore I did honor my promise as the cemetery is just minutes away called Shiloh Cemetery.

The cemetery called Shiloh is very historical in significance to the Cedar Key area. It has many early pioneers buried within it. What makes the grave mounds interesting is that each one is covered in giant clam shells some of the biggest I ever seen. I guess this is common for this area to keep the rain from washing the sand away on the grave mounds. It is also a way to decorate the graves since most of these people lived out their lives as sea captains and fishermen. 

There are a couple hundred burials within this cemetery half of them are unmarked and some just have a small metal marker. While others have blocks...slabs...or even wood sticks. Its not that its a heavily vandalized cemetery its that it sits back in the woods down some very rough dirt roads in an area full of very few residents. The unmarked shell covered graves are said to be children based on the small size and spread of the clam shells. 

Little does many know this but this cemetery was used as a "Potters Field" so many burials who were not relatives were often buried in family plots. Members of some of those same families are often found in other parts of the cemetery rather then within their own family plots...pretty weird I know.

I am sure that some of those burials were also part of the Rosewood community as well and you can read about Rosewood....as the book and movie are also available at http://www.displaysforschools.com/history.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre I can actually say I traversed in the woods where this town once stood not much to show in the photos but I did and that is all that matters. A very strange area where the town and cemetery sit quite dismal really.

© By

Lord Rick