Oakland Cemetery is home to many wealthy families
who brought forth the growth of Oakland Florida...a small community south
of Lake Apopka. There are two cemeteries in Oakland one can find the Black
Cemetery listed throughout the net however the cemetery we visited was the
white one which is historical and dates back to the 1800s.
The cemetery is actually very hard to find as it
sits back off the road covered in heavy brush. There are no signs and hell
even most of the locals have never heard of it. Its a large cemetery alot
of vaults...large family plots...and weathered stones. It sits on some
small rolling hills and is tree covered.
I thought in my opinion this was one of the
best finds I could ever discover. I mean most cemeteries are often visited
to much by other ghost groups. I actually heard about it from a friend on
myspace...so you see we are always gathering information from other
sources.
Strangely this cemetery is listed on the maps
in another location which turns out to be Judge Speers Park but in reality
the cemetery is not in that location. That perhaps is what struck my
interest showing up and not being able to find it yet the locals all heard
of it but had no clue to its location.
The cemetery is fairly close to the West
Orange Trail and alot of these people that built the town around that
railroad are buried here including people who were in that mob that almost
lynched Demens the railroad owner.
So alot of history...and your not going to see
a great ghost story or alot of ghost but nonetheless as pretty or dirty as
it gets PGS was there to bring everybody photos from this eerie little
place. Below you will find a listing of the most prominent families buried
in Oakland Cemetery taken from The Oakland Historical Trail website. We
did not write it but its there for educational use only so you can learn
about the burials here.
© By
Lord Rick-AngelOfThyNight
Sadler
James Hardy Sadler (1859-1934) of Abbevile, South Carolina, arrived here
as a young boy to live with his grandfather, Judge Speer. He homesteaded
160 acres on Black Lake Rd. and planted oranges and vegetables. He married
Matilda Minerva Tilden (1868-1921).
Tilden
Luther Fuller Tilden (1834-1929) and his wife, Emily Willis (1840-1925),
moved from Illinois and arrived in Florida in 1876. After living in Apopka
for a time, they came here and planted tomatoes, helped establish the
first schools and the Beulah church. Mr. Tilden was instrumental in
helping others rebuild their lives after the devastating freezes of
1894-95.
Gulley
Richard Lindsay Gulley (1877-1948) of Anderson, South Carolina, came to
Oakland in 1895. He came to work with the railroad, but stayed to be a
farmer. In 1900, he married Nona Dunnaway (1883-1972).
Connell
George Frank Connell (1856-1908) came with his wife Lulu (1864-1950) from
Staunton, Virginia, and with his brother owned groves and a farm.
Brock
James Orlando Brock (1856-1929) arrived from Toccoa, Georgia, in 1888. He
married Sarah Judith Perkins (1859-1951). The Brock family was involved in
the grocery business in Oakland for over 25 years.
Speer
A Speer cemetery was located on the homesite of James Gamble Speer
(1820-1893) on Killarney Rd., which was occupied by his son, Arthur Speer
(1852-1940), who had married Alice Roper in 1877. After she died in 1880,
Arthur married Martha C. Kincaid (1846-1928) and after they both died, the
property was sold. The new owner destroyed the cemetery and piled the
tombstones in a corner of a field. Some of the stones were retrieved and
relocated here, including the one bearing the names of James Jackson and
Sansparilla Dewsinberry, in the row running south of the concrete slab
adjacent to the dirt road.
Petris
Edmund E. Petris (1848-1931) and his wife, Louise I. Molner (1853-1918),
came to Florida from New York City in 1874. Mr. Petris operated a general
merchandise store in Sanford, then moved here and upholstered Pullman car
seats for the railroad.
Smith
Charles Frederic Mather-Smith (1863-1941) and his wife, Grace Smith
(1884-1962) were interred in elaborate mauseleums on their estate
overlooking Lake Apopka. After vandalism problems there, they were moved
here to the cemetery.
Hull
Simeon Benjamin Hull (1867-1945) came to Oakland in 1905 and married
Marguerite Matilda Winkelman (1876-1968). Mr. Hull helped to plant the
Tilden groves, and owned groves of his own.
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