Greenwood’s ‘Babylands’ and Children of the Past

Many cemeteries in the United States have sections called ‘Babyland’ explicitly designed for children ages 5 and younger. Greenwood Cemetery has three Babyland sections created for somber reflection by those who lost young ones far too soon. 

Beginning in the 1930s, most countries saw great improvements in public health infrastructure, including sewage disposal, improved water treatment, food safety, and more broadly available health education.¹ Despite this, prior to the 1950s, infant mortality rates remained high in both underdeveloped and developed nations. In developed nations like the United States at this time, 50% or one of every two children passed on largely from infectious diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and scarlet fever. The high mortality rates stemmed from a lack of hygienic practices, researched knowledge on preventing the spread of diseases, and unaffordable healthcare due to poverty.² As a result of high death rates of children from birth to age 10, cemeteries across the U.S. accommodated grieving families by establishing sections designated only for the young. Named ‘Babyland,’ these special sections were to comfort parents in their loss, knowing their child was laid to rest with other youth. By 2020, the efficacy of vaccines helped drop the infant mortality rate.³ Some babies buried in Greenwood Cemetery’s three Babyland sections died of disease and nutritional deficiencies, while others were stillbirths. 

Another example of infant mortality resulted from babies born too early. One set of twins, the “Beach twins,” were prematurely born on October 13, 1927. The twins were the daughters of James and Ethel Beach. Tragically, they lived only three hours after birth. In the 1920s, little was known of the needed medical care for preterm infants. It would take many years for hospitals to start adopting practices that increase the survival rate of preterm babies. The Beach twins were laid to rest in Babyland 1, while their parents were eventually interred in Block 9 of Greenwood Cemetery.⁴ 

Infants developing infections after birth often live for a few weeks or months. For example, Ramona Ann Burney, born on February 10, 1935, to parents Frank and Ramona Burney, was diagnosed with acute primary bronchopneumonia at five months old. An inflammation of the lungs due to a viral or bacterial infection; symptoms include a fever, coughing, and difficulty breathing. Though penicillin was invented in 1928, it took another ten years to perfect the antibiotic and a few more years to make it accessible to the public. Outbreaks of pneumonia across the U.S. in the 1930s became a major public health concern, including in the State of Florida, where public health efforts were in place to curb death rates. Penicillin had finally become more available to the public by the 1940s. Still, unfortunately for baby Romona, she succumbed to her illness on July 30, 1947, at the age of 5 months and 20 days old. Her grave in Babyland 1 is unmarked, and her parents were buried elsewhere.⁵ 

Aside from premature births and illnesses that led to many children buried in Greenwood Cemetery, congenital disorders or “birth defects” were also another cause of infant deaths. Baby boy Benton David Glasscock Jr. was born on January 13, 1941, at Orange General Hospital in Orlando to parents Eva and Benton D Glasscock, an Army Air Force Captain. He lived for only an hour and a half due to birth defects from underdevelopment issues, causing circulatory and respiratory failure. The Orlando Morning Sentinel posted the funeral arrangements for baby Benton with sympathy expressions from Glasscock’s friends. Benton Jr. was laid to rest in Babyland 1 in Greenwood Cemetery. His parents were later buried in Section C.⁶  

Some visitors claim to have witnessed paranormal activity near Greenwood Cemetery’s Babyland sections. They reported hearing children laughing and playing or feeling strange sensations like a tug on their clothing near Babylands 1 and 3.⁷ Despite Babyland’s alleged spookiness, Greenwood Cemetery’s three Babylands offer a unique place for somber reflection on parental love and grief by those who lost young ones far too soon. 

1. “Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Control of Infectious Diseases,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 30, 1999, accessed April 11, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4829a1.htm

2. Max Roser, “Mortality in the Past: Every Second Child Died,” Our World in Data, accessed March 18, 2024, https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality-in-the-past; Stanford T. Shulman, “The History of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.” Pediatric Research 55, no. 1 (January 1, 2004): 163–76, accessed April 11, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1203/01.pdr.0000101756.93542.09 

3. Roser, “Mortality in the Past.”  

4. "Florida Deaths, 1877-1939", database with images, FamilySearch, entry for Beach, 13 October 1927, accessed March 9, 2024, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FPWR-P4T; Rebecca Rego Barry, “Coney Island’s Incubator Babies,” JSTOR Daily, August 15, 2018, accessed April 11, 2024, https://daily.jstor.org/coney-islands-incubator-babies/; “Care of Premature Infants,” Penn Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, accessed April 11, 2024, https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/nurses-institutions-caring/care-of-premature-infants/; Carey Hand Funeral Home, "Beach" (1927), Carey Hand Undertaker's Memoranda 1927, 468, accessed March 9, 2024, https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-ch-memoranda-1927/468; James and Ethel Beach Burial Records, Greenwood Cemetery Records.

5. "Florida Deaths, 1877-1939," database with images, FamilySearch, entry for Romona Ann Burney, 30 July 1935, accessed March 9, 2024, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FP88-5QK; William J. Bigler, "Public Health in Florida – Yesteryear: Florida’s Public Health Centennial,” Florida Journal of Public Health 1, no. 3 (May 1989): 9-11, accessed April 11, 2024, https://fpha.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/public%20health%20in%20florida-yesteryear.pdf; Scott F. Dowell, et al., "Mortality from Pneumonia in Children in the United States, 1939 through 1996,” The Journal of New England Medicine 342, no. 19 (May 11, 2000): 1399, accessed April 11, 2024, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM20000511342190

6. Paul A. L. Lancaster, ”Causes of birth defects: Lessons from history,” Congenital Anomalies 51, no. 1 (March 2011): 2-5, accessed April 11, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4520.2010.00311.x; Carey Hand Funeral Home, "Glasscock, Benton D." (1941), Carey Hand Undertaker's Memoranda 1941, 33, accessed March 8, 2024, https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-ch-memoranda-1941/33; Carey Hand Funeral Home, "Glasscock, Benton D." (1941), Funeral Register Volume 25: Carey Hand Funeral Home records, November 2, 1940 to August 11, 1941, 179, accessed April 11, 2024 https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-ch-register-vol25/179; “Mr. B. D. Glasscock Jr,” Orlando Morning Sentinel, January 14, 1941, 4; Benton Glasscock Burial Records, Greenwood Cemetery Records.

7. “US Ghost Adventures - Hauntingly Fun Experiences,” Greenwood Cemetery: US Ghost Adventures, April 4, 2022, accessed March 9, 2024, https://usghostadventures.com/haunted-places/greenwood-cemetery/