Warrington Cemetery has been lost to time more than once, but community won't let it go

A tear trickled from Savilla Davis-Murphy's right eye and streamed down her cheek, washing away a bit of the dust and dirt that was on her tired face.

Davis-Murphy was one of about 100 people at Good Hope A.M.E. Church Cemetery Saturday morning, cutting, clearing and cleaning away years of neglect that blanketed the historic African American cemetery in Warrington.

Davis-Murphy, rake in hand, had been clearing away weeds and debris from the gravesite of her father, Sam C. Davis, who died in 1995. Her great-grandmother is buried nearby, and her grandparents' graves are in the rear of the cemetery off Barrancas Avenue, which is nestled against the southeast portion of Warrington Elementary School property. The cemetery started off as Big Bayou Cemetery, a Reconstruction-era cemetery for Black residents and civil service employees at the nearby Navy Yard, some of whom had been enslaved workers at the Navy Yard years earlier.

Seeing the people pushing and riding mowers through the property, others using chainsaws and power equipment to cut away bushes, branches and poison ivy from fence lines, and others hauling away debris, Davis-Murphy felt overwhelmed.

Now, a few tears fell.

"It means a lot," she said. "This is truly a blessing and means so much to the church and the families who have loved ones here. This is wonderful."

The Good Hope A.M.E. cemetery cleanup was organized by Escambia County District 2 Commissioner Mike Kohler, whose district includes the cemetery, after he was approached by area civil rights activist Ellison Bennett about the condition of the cemetery, which dates back to at least the 1860s and where generations of Black residents are buried.

"I come out here because my grandparents on my mother's side are here," Bennett said Saturday morning. "And I've seen the neglect and homeless people sleeping on graves; there's so much overgrowth and neglect and the church just doesn't have the money or resources to keep it up like it needs."

Saturday morning, Kohler was as dirty as the rest, hauling leaves and branches, raking, and doing whatever was needed.

"It really upset me after we met," Kohler said of his meeting with Bennett. "I got with legal and said, 'What can we do about this church cemetery?'"

Soon, the Escambia County Tourist Development Committee approved $25,000 for the cleanup. Kohler said he hopes to have the church added to the TDC's roster of regularly maintained cemeteries.

Good Hope A.M.E. Church pastor, the Rev. Sinclair Forbes, said Good Hope has spent funds in recent years for some maintenance at the cemetery, but said the small church lacks resources for proper care and maintenance without assistance.

On Saturday, he watched with gratitude as church members, citizen volunteers, members of church groups, military personnel and young students worked the cemetery, which has about 150 gravestones, many faded with time.

"This speaks volumes about our community," Forbes said. "It's a gift for the church and all the people who have family members here. There shouldn't be vandalism and homeless people out here. So, to see everyone out here is amazing. Today truly is a blessing."

Good A.M.E. Church dates back to the 1850s and for years, the church was located next to the cemetery on Barrancas before relocating to its current location less than a half mile away on Gulf Beach Highway. The church acquired the cemetery in the early 1900s. For a few decades, the cemetery became overgrown and neglected, eventually lost to memory for most.

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According to a Pensacola News Journal article, a traveling circus came to Warrington in 1935 and turned its animals lose in a field to graze. When the animals grazed on the grasses and weeds, circus workers found gravestones and the cemetery was reidentified.

Then, it was lost again, as high, dense weeds and bushes, as well as small trees grew at the cemetery through the decades. By the early 1980s, the cemetery seemed invisible, covered by mattresses and other trash people had dumped as the weeds, bushes and trees grew and multiplied.

According to a 1982 News Journal article, a burglary had occurred at a nearby building and when a worker went to investigate, he stepped into the overgrown, trash-strewn lot and tripped over a gravestone. A few more gravestones were discovered, and the cemetery once again was reborn.

The cemetery was cleaned and later that year, U.S. Rep. Earl Hutto presented the church with a flag to fly over the cemetery and area military personnel fired a 21-gun salute to honor those buried there.

Now, Kohler, Bennett, Forbes and others, especially those with family members forever memorialized there, are hopeful for the cemetery's future.

Marcel Davis, a Pensacola pastor, has numerous relatives buried in the cemetery, including his great-grandfather Jonas Brown, for whom the Jonas Brown Estates neighborhood off Gulf Beach Highway is named for. Nearby streets ‒ Wingate and Mary ‒ are named for Brown's wife and a daughter.

"He was an entrepreneur," Davis said of his ancestor, who died in 1925. He was either 67 or 68 years old. Davis told how his great-grandfather worked aboard a steamboat hauling gopher turtles caught in Holmes Creek near his birthplace in Washington County ‒ Chipley is the county seat ‒ to his chosen home in Pensacola, where he would sell them to restaurants. The city of Vernon in Washington County was once known as a world leader in "gopher turtle" harvesting at the time.

"There are so many stories in the people who are here," Davis said of those buried in the cemetery, which even after 30 minutes of 100 people working hard, already looked significantly different. "So many of them worked civil service on base where they could get a fair wage."

On Saturday, military personnel in fatigues were near the cemetery's southern fence, cutting away small trees that camouflaged the cemetery from Barrancas Avenue and threatened to uproot the fence. An older gentleman walked steadily back and forth carrying branches, twigs and small logs to a large dump pile outside the gate. College kids used clippers to trim away vines from another fence line. A few folks pushed lawn mowers through various parts of the grounds, while someone on a riding mower was making quick work, tracing short clean lines through the tall grass and weeds. Everyone had been warned about poison ivy in some areas, and some gloved volunteers cut throughout it, removing it from fence lines.

Jennifer Melcher, a University of West Florida Archaeology Institute faculty research associate who specializes in cemeteries, said Good Hope A.M.E. Church's cemetery's condition before the cleanup is common across Northwest Florida, and the country.

"There are dozens," she said of similar cemeteries in Northwest Florida. "We have a lot of cemeteries from this period, and sadly, a lot are in this kind of shape. Some can be in worse shape."

Good Hope A.M.E. Church Cemetery is crowded, but Forbes said the church has room for one last burial. That would be Daisy Davis, Savilla Davis-Murphy's mother.

"We've saved one more spot for her," Forbes said. "She will be the last."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia volunteers clean Warrington's Good Hope A.M.E. Cemetery