The cemetery is divided into 3 areas one being St. Monica's Catholic Cemetery which was sectioned off by the Catholic Church in the 1800s, The second part being the historic white section which has your soldiers from the Seminole war, then your black Section. Back in the 1800s cemeteries were segregated especially in the south and this cemetery is just proof of that. 

During the 1800s just a matter of a couple miles away was Fort Shannon which sat along the river shore. Back in the 1800s the entire central Florida area was a place of many forts. So many were built as quick as they were destroyed very few remnants exist. Their was rumors that another fort was built nearby but came up missing which is more then likely the present day site of Westview Cemetery. It is pretty exciting to walk around a cemetery where possible Seminole War battles were fought.

The reason why this cemetery has been in question is that over the years the site served as a refuse dump for the town of Palatka. During rain storms trinkets have surfaced from the 1800s here. Also amongst finds have been broken jam jars, silver spoons, mother of pearl buttons, little china cat figurines, a very old shoe, an 1835 silver dime, extract bottles, pieces of bone china, and thousands of oyster shells which the locals consumed as a delicacy. So their is proof that the area was a dumping ground. That would be like your local landfill company burying all its garbage then eventually burying bodies amongst it quite strange really. 

But here is what raises suspicions that this was the site of an unknown fort.  Many military style uniform buttons were found, spent bullets, and an underground cache of flintlock rifle balls along with two bucking balls in a leather bag were found buried here.  The first two known burials here were soldiers who had fallen during the Seminole War. I am not sure which one since the Seminole Wars started in 1817 to 1818 then the Second war that broke out was from 1935 to 1942 then the third one came much later. It mostly likely is soldiers from the second one. I do not believe them graves are marked but the one that is is a man by the name of D. B. Duke who died in 1847 so its more then like that the first few burials began in the 1840s.  Near the Gazebo seem to be a place where the oldest burials have taken place. 

Some of the historical burials here are the State Of Florida's first elected governor William D. Moseley, Judge Benjamin Putnam hence how the name Putnam County was chosen, several mayors of Palatka, many state legislators, wealthy businessmen, civil war soldiers and citizens of the town of Palatka which sits on the river. 

During the 1980s Lynn Hoffman was a field Engineer for a major corporation and would come to the cemetery to do his paperwork here cause it was peaceful. He noticed that many of the stones were black so he took a gallon of bleach and a scrub brush only to find out that it cleaned it up. So eventually he did it to the Clara Sands Monument and got it gleaming white. Eventually he purchased 100s of gallons of bleach and sprayers cleaning up the entire cemetery. People took notice here and that is when Lynn decided to get into the whole genealogy of the cemetery which today host tours here today. 

Lynn Hoffman's wife Mary Murphy was interested in local history and genealogy. She met Lynn in 1985 to conduct a survey for the Putnam County Genealogical Society. I would assume Lynn became involved in the society after he cleaned up most of the stones to learn more history on these burials grounds. When the two met it eventually led to their marriage in 1988 and today tours are available here by them. That really is a romantic story sometimes I wish I could meet someone special in a cemetery or in the paranormal field like me but it just goes to show you that even the dead can bring the living together.

One of the things about this cemetery I noticed is that it has a tragic history. Almost every burials here is either Dysentery, Tuberculosis, Typhoid Fever, Still Born's, Convulsions, Drowning in the local lakes or rivers, suicides, pneumonia, heart disease, broken necks, railway accidents, cancer, Malaria etc. Very very few have died of old age or natural causes most here were murders or just the fact that medical treatment was not advanced during this time period so people died of real simple curable diseases that are known today.

One of the vaults is cracked open and the coffin is missing this also remains a mystery maybe vandalism maybe it was moved to another location. Many of the stones are tipped at angels some of the trees have caused this and many of the stones are very close together by typical of an old cemetery. The cemetery is very woodsy and dark in some areas while wrought iron gates guard its entrance. Their is rumored to be roughly 4,000 burials here and by the likes of it the cemetery is fairly full with little or no burial room left. At least 8o percent of the burials here date back to the 1800s so its a real historical type of place although peaceful I get the feeling many of the ghost here are their because it honestly was not their time to go.

But when you put it into perspective it was most likely an area where battles were fought, soldiers camped under the stars, locals dumped items like trinkets that had memories at one time and eventually it all became a cemetery with many figures that were important in Florida's timeline of history. So indeed this place is as much of a mystery as it is a place of history.

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Rick-AngelOfThyNight