SANFORD, Fla. – Deep in the Lakeview Cemetery of Sanford sits a headstone with a strange figure etched on it: a horse named “Bob.”
Inscribed on the headstone is Bob’s moniker and a single phrase: “FAITHFUL 28 YEARS.”
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The cemetery itself is a vital part of the city’s history, having been established in 1883 and holding the remains of some of Sanford’s earliest settlers.
Some of those venerated pioneers include figures like John Hughey and Elias Woodruff, who were veterans from the War of 1812 and ultimately interred at the cemetery.
However, the horse headstone carries a much different history.
According to documents at the Sanford Museum, that horse — or “Old Bob,” as he was often referred to — belonged to T.J. Miller, the city’s first-ever undertaker who started up a local funeral home in 1885.
Old Bob was used to pull the hearse for Miller’s funeral home, helping bring bodies to the cemetery for well over two decades.
Considered a local celebrity, Bob was deemed “the most famous horse in the history of Seminole County” (or at least, that’s how Orlando Sentinel journalist Jim Robison described him post-mortem in 2000).
Bob’s last delivery was on March 16, 1913: A man who died of heart trouble and was buried in the Lakeview Cemetery.
After 24 years of service, Bob retired to the Miller family’s orange grove on the outskirts of the city, where he got the chance to relax and enjoy the freedom of the Millers’ farm.
However, Old Bob didn’t last too much longer. In July 1914, he passed away at 37 years old.
“Easy living seemed to be too much for (Old Bob), and he departed this life last Monday afternoon,” The Sanford Herald reported at the time. “He was given decent burial just outside the cemetery to which spot he had hauled many a deceased resident during his younger days.”
Well after Old Bob’s death, the Lakeview Cemetery was acquired by the city of Sanford, though his (new) headstone is still maintained to this day.
To find it, head to the Lakeview Cemetery behind the Evergreen Municipal Cemetery along West 25th Street. Old Bob’s headstone can be found next to the Lakeview Cemetery’s entrance sign.
And for more strange stories from across Central Florida, be sure to head to News 6′s “Florida Fables” page here.
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