Honoring Apopka's Ancestors: Ideas for keeping the Edgewood-Greenwood Cemetery safe and secure

The Edgewood-Greenwood Cemetery in Apopka has a long and illustrious history. Zelotes H. Mason, M.D., a very early physician in Apopka history, helped charter the Town of Apopka City in 1882. On March 30th, 1893, he signed a quit claim deed to some of his property to the town to the Trustees of the Apopka Cemetery. 

Dr. Mason and his wife Christiana made that decision in good time, as he became the first to be interred only 17 days later, on 17 April 1893! You will recognize both of their names as street names in and adjacent to the cemetery area, which was the center of the beginning of the Town of Apopka City.

Some tragic and infamous incidents have been associated with various sections of what is now known as Edgewood-Greenwood Cemetery. There is the Apopka Church Cemetery, Greenwood 1-6 from the Monroe Avenue entrance, separated by the railroad grade from Edgewood A-D, fronting on Highland Avenue entrance bordering on the Apopka Colored Cemetery, bordering on Edgewood 2 on its north, and Edgewood Annex A-D to the east.

Upon merging the cemeteries, it is now called the Edgewood-Greenwood cemetery, with the Apopka Church Cemetery fenced off to the east side. 

The Armed Forces Memorial ceremonial stage and flag poles are near the Edgewood and First Street cemetery fence intersection between the Edgewood section and Greenwood 4. VFW Post 10147 and the City of Apopka have held Memorial Day and Wreaths Across America Days for years. 

Sadly, we have seen more tragic events lately. Three-and-one-half months ago, two brother’s graves were vandalized in Edgewood 2. Sunday, I discovered extensive damage in Greenwood I.

At first, I thought it was just one stranger’s plot. Everything in the grave was uprooted. A two-foot cement post was pulled out of the ground from somewhere else and used to behead all the angels. They were thrown all over, and every flower and fence was pulled from the ground. I then saw the father of friends’ plot, a pillar of the community. The headstone had been used as a baseball backstop for things gathered from graves all over the vicinity: shattered mirrors, toys, glass, and other objects.

I called the police and contacted the City Clerk.

Monday morning one of our incredible City of Apopka cemetery caretakers, Keith, drove up to the plot just as I arrived. Even though the owner of plots is required to maintain and clean their own plots, Keith respectfully and carefully cleaned and reset the undamaged items in the first plot. He knew what was from each and every plot! What things were in the grave and from where they had come! (Edgewood-Greenwood Cemetery has 7,000 graves, and our caretaker knows what is on each of them.)

Even though I had called my friends to notify them of the damage, Keith cleaned up the large plot for them so they didn’t have to drive down to handle it. There was damage in plots all around the central grave of someone the perpetrators were honoring. One was covered with shattered sheet glass shards.

I am not sharing the photos of the destruction or the names of the disrespected souls. That would only bolster the credentials of the gang members that perpetuated the activity. I will share photos of the cleaned gravesites by Keith.

Thank you, Keith, for all of your hard and respectful work. 

Ideas to keep the cemetery safe:

Neighborhood Watch: Some communities encourage neighbors to walk at various times during the day through the cemetery as Neighborhood watch. They get exercise and there is a regular ‘presence’ in the cemetery.

Civilian Patrol: Ask the Civilian Patrols to travel through the cemetery in between the police officers. Our officers are stretched thin since we are expanding the City so fast and so far. 

Cameras: Post some cameras throughout or around the cemetery to capture who enters so that vandals can be identified and prosecuted.

Lock the Gates: Confirm the gates are locked at dusk and unlocked at dawn, as indicated in the cemetery contracts. 

Repair Fences: Make sure that all the fences are repaired. At least one fence has been down since a hurricane years ago. Fixing it will reduce partying.

Dr. Phyllis Olmstead

Dr. Phyllis M. Olmstead is an Apopka resident, Historian, Publisher, and Educator. She is a frequent contributor to The Apopka Voice.