Lee Kirkland Cemetery

The land for the Lee Kirkland Cemetery for African Americans was donated to the city in 1932. It was once known as the Jacksonville Beach Colored Cemetery or the Negro Cemetery. There were separate cemeteries for African Americans and Caucasian Americans in Jacksonville Beach until the mid-1960s. Like the H. Warren Smith Memorial Cemetery across the street, burials occurred in the location prior to its designation as a public cemetery.

The first recorded burial was in 1926 when U.S. Army wagoner and World War I veteran Jesse Butler was interred here. Butler is one of more than two dozen veterans buried there. Many graves were never marked, or their markers have deteriorated over time. The cemetery is named after its long-time caretaker, Lee Kirkland, who tended to the burial grounds in his spare time for more than 20 years. He dug graves with only a shovel and when people couldn’t afford headstones, he made them out of wood or concrete. After his death at age 78, the city of Jacksonville Beach passed a resolution naming the cemetery in his honor.