Tallahassee's living history is taught at the

One of Tallahassee’s largest history books is the Old City Cemetery downtown. On Saturday, dozens of people were learning some lessons from the community’s oldest graveyard, which was established in 1829, five years after the city itself.

Around 50 obviously fascinated people got a grand tour of the ten-acre plot, which is the final resting place for more than 1,500 people.

Tallahassee Historical Society President Bob Holladay said the names on the old stones read like a who’s who of Tallahassee past and present.

“All the families that are here! The Bannermans, the Langs, the Proctors that are over here.”

The last Old City Cemetery interment was in the 1920s. To this day, the burials there remain segregated by race. EXCEPT for white Union troops who died in Tallahassee after the Civil War. They were placed in the Black section of the cemetery.

This was the first cemetery tour since before the COVID pandemic. And for those who missed it, primary tour guide Barbara Clark, regional director of the Florida Public Archeology Network, said another is planned for the fall.

“We do have another tour coming up in October and we hope people will come out for that one as well. The weather should be beautiful. It always is in October.”