Ms. Margo S Stringfield

This article broadens the discussion of 19th century monuments associated with the Lost Cause by exploring the monument landscapes of post-emancipation African American cemeteries and the people who are associated with them. Method. Exemplars from several cemeteries in Pensacola, Florida, are used to examine how the post-emancipation population maintained deep ties to their cultural roots while assimilating into society as free people. Results. The built environment of postemancipation African American cemeteries contains monuments reflecting black identity and dignity in life and in death. Conclusions. Examining a broader sample of memorial landscapes can be a starting point in expanding the national dialogue on our country’s history in a more inclusive fashion. Historic cemeteries, especially African American cemeteries established post-Civil War, offer an excellent means of doing this in a manner that almost all citizens can understand and respect

Pensacola was one of the earliest European settlement attempts in American history, and five flags have flown over the city since it was founded. Alternately abandoned and resettled, it served variously as a Spanish garrison, as a French outpost, and as the capital of the British colony of West Florida. It was the largest city in the state when Florida joined the United States in 1821 with Andrew Jackson presiding as provisional governor. Historic Pensacola is an excellent introduction to “The City of Five Flags” for residents and visitors alike. Alongside historic illustrations and contemporary color photographs, John Clune and Margo Stringfield guide readers from Pensacola’s hardtack beginnings in 1559 to the city’s tremendous growth in the early nineteenth century. They provide a unique look into the daily lives of the people who endured hardship, disease, and hurricanes to settle the Gulf coast frontier. This is a highly readable account of a city with a rich and fascinating past.

Within the microenvironment of St. Michael’s Cemetery, an interdisciplinary approach to investigations has led to a better understanding of the site and its relationship to the cultural and physical landscape associated with the community. Initially organized on the outskirts of the colonial settlement, contemporary St. Michael’s Cemetery is today an eight-acre green space in the heart of the modern urban environment. The impact of 240 years of urbanization has altered the original colonial landscape, and most of the infrastructure of the early community is reflected primarily in the archaeological record. This is not entirely the case at St. Michael’s Cemetery where flora and fauna reflect the early community’s over and understory and funerary architecture dating to Pensacola’s Second Spanish occupation dots the landscape. While much information can be discerned from surface features in the cemetery, there is another dimension to the site that is unseen by the naked eye- the unmarked burials that underlie the marked burials on the site.

A primary objective of the Search for the Hidden People of St. Michael’s Cemetery project was to identify potential unmarked burials using remote sensing techniques. The contemporary surface of the cemetery contains approximately 3200 marked graves dating from 1812-2008. The remote sensing survey has identified 3,915 subsurface anomalies originating in three distinct depths throughout the cemetery. In conjunction with the remote sensing survey, a soil survey documents changes to the landscape over time.

Historical research focuses on the transformational funerary landscape of the area beginning with European occupation in the 16th century, the relationship between St. Michael’s Cemetery and the physical and cultural landscape of the community it served beginning in the 18th century, and the identification of individuals who lost their lives in Pensacola during the British and Second Period colonial periods (1763-1821).

Within the microenvironment of St. Michael’s Cemetery, an interdisciplinary approach to investigations has led to a better understanding of the site and its relationship to the cultural and physical landscape associated with the community. Initially organized on the outskirts of the colonial settlement, contemporary St. Michael’s Cemetery is today an eight-acre green space in the heart of the modern urban environment. The impact of 240 years of urbanization has altered the original colonial landscape, and most of the infrastructure of the early community is reflected primarily in the archaeological record. This is not entirely the case at St. Michael’s Cemetery where flora and fauna reflect the early community’s over and understory and funerary architecture dating to Pensacola’s Second Spanish occupation dots the landscape. While much information can be discerned from surface features in the cemetery, there is another dimension to the site that is unseen by the naked eye- the unmarked burials that underlie the marked burials on the site.

A primary objective of the Search for the Hidden People of St. Michael’s Cemetery project was to identify potential unmarked burials using remote sensing techniques. The contemporary surface of the cemetery contains approximately 3200 marked graves dating from 1812-2008. The remote sensing survey has identified 3,915 subsurface anomalies originating in three distinct depths throughout the cemetery. In conjunction with the remote sensing survey, a soil survey documents changes to the landscape over time.

Historical research focuses on the transformational funerary landscape of the area beginning with European occupation in the 16th century, the relationship between St. Michael’s Cemetery and the physical and cultural landscape of the community it served beginning in the 18th century, and the identification of individuals who lost their lives in Pensacola during the British and Second Period colonial periods (1763-1821).