GROVELAND, Fla. – A forgotten piece of history in Groveland has now been restored.
“Oftentimes we pass this, but we didn’t have any idea what was behind this except my mother said to us that her father was buried somewhere in this area,” said Cassandra Brown-Davis, the granddaughter of Private Joe Green.
This is what Brown-Davis and her family had to search through at the Oak Tree Union Colored Cemetery of Taylorville to find where her grandfather, World War I Veteran Joe Green, is buried.
Thanks to a nearly $500,000 state restoration grant and years of hard work, Brown-Davis, who works in the funeral industry, can now visit her grandfather’s headstone with no trouble.
“I see different people almost weekly go to their loved ones’ final resting place,” she told News 6. “It means a lot because he was the one that was missing out of the family. You also found out that you have other family members buried out here as well. Yes, my father’s mother and father.”
Her family is among the 229 African Americans, including the 10 U.S. veterans, buried at this site.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
Groveland Fire Chief Kevin Carroll, one of the main contributors to restoring the cemetery, was overjoyed.
“This came together not because of me, but because a community came together to make this happen,” Chief Carroll said.
From digging plumbing and irrigation systems by hand to dumping 36 truckloads of debris, the hard work helped lower the cost with volunteers helping out.
The project also helped Sam Griffin, whose uncle is buried in the cemetery, connect with the community.
“Sam was very concerned that he wouldn’t live to see this day,” Chief Carroll. “That made the passion to get this done and have this arrive that much more important because not just for him but for everybody.”
The cemetery is now owned by the city, which will maintain it so history is never lost again.