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Sunnyside Cemetery is the third oldest cemetery
in the St. Petersburg area established around 1880. Nathaniel Ellis buried
family on his property and this was pretty common in the 1800s especially
in Florida. Kind of scary when you think about it its like my ma and pa
are buried next to the pool where we are having our annual weenie roast!
The cemetery was called the Ellis Graveyard and in the 1900's the cemetery was told to a man by the name of O'Berry thus in 1905 the Sunnyside Cemetery Association was formed. In 1984 once again the cemetery was sold and Anderson McQueen Funeral Home purchased it. I heard some of the ghost tours given have taken place here not sure what all the hype is about this cemetery is far from eerie. Its not even all that dark with its older section all lit up at night. The cemetery is split into an old and new section with a residential road breaking it up. Many of the graves are very well maintained no signs of vandalism....most are legible...and stand up right unlike some of the more rural cemeteries we have been to in FL. Perhaps the biggest attraction of this cemetery is the Hoxie and Day Gravesites. Walter John Hoxie and his Daughter Mary Day established Girl Scouts not just locally but nationally as well. John authored the first Girl Scouts Hnadbook. You can read more in depth about Hoxie and Day below so once again another historical site visited by our group or rather by me. As far as finding the graves well that's another story this grave site blends in with the other hundreds of burials here so if you do not know what to look for you will not find it. © By Lord Rick
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From: http://www.stpete.org The
Hoxie/Day Gravesites at Sunnyside Cemetery (the third oldest cemetery in
St. Petersburg) recognize the efforts of Walter John Hoxie and his
daughter, Mary Russell (Cappy) Day, who were instrumental in establishing
girl scouting in America and locally in St. Petersburg. Walter John Hoxie
authored the first Girl Scouts Handbook; he is also recognized as an
important naturalist and ornithologist whose portrait is on display at the
Smithsonian Institute and the Library of Congress. Originally from
Rochester, New York, Walter Hoxie developed a love of nature and birds in
his youth. After serving for the Union in the Civil War, he served as an
"Educator of the Freed Man" to assist in the social transition
for newly freed slaves, and later as a surveyor for the Atlantic Coast
Line Railroad in Jacksonville. As an educator and a surveyor, Hoxie
developed his skills as a naturalist in the South. After various teaching
positions relocated him to the northeast, Walter Hoxie returned to the
South permanently in 1879, taking various positions in Florida, Georgia,
and South Carolina. Finally, Hoxie settled in Savannah in 1901. He became
a natural history instructor at Bethesda, the oldest orphanage in America.
In his free time, he wrote over 500 articles for the Savannah Morning
News about nature, birds, and other items related to the outdoors. Mary Russell Day is important for
other noteworthy activities. She helped to create the original parcel
wrapping station near the Open Air Post Office (to fund the girls’
camping trips), organize the Animal Welfare League (a predecessor of the
S.P.C.A.), and establish the local chapter of the Children’s Home
Society. In 1957, Cappy Day was present at the memorial dedication of her
father’s gravesite at Sunnyside Cemetery. She passed away on January 22,
1964 in Dade City, Florida. Her body was transported to a spot next to her
father where she rests today. A grave marker reads "Mary Russell Day,
Daughter of Walter J. Hoxie, Founder of Girl Scouting in Pinellas County,
‘Cappy Day’ to all her scouts."
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