Asberry Cemetery

I have to admit that, as Halloween approached, I thought that an easy cheat for this new blog would be to find an old, photogenic cemetery where I could snap some scenic-n-spooky pics to post here. I checked with Google to see if there were any cemeteries near my drive home, and noticed one - located near the end of a dirt road between Traxler and High Springs - that I'd never heard of before: Asberry Cemetery.

The road itself was quite scenic - tree lined, dirt, passing alongside numerous farms raising horses, cows, goats, and donkeys. The road didn't use to be a dead-end, although it was truncated in 1995 by the limerock mining company which purchased the large tracts of land located at its end.... as well as the property upon which the Asberry Cemetery is located. 

I didn't know any of this when I went hunting for it. I was expecting normal cemetery-looking cemetery. Instead, I came to an earthen blockade and a sign saying that the road was closed to through traffic. I was surrounded by trees and overgrowth, and there was no visible sign of anything resembling a cemetery. According to Google Maps, the cemetery was just to my south inside the wooded area. Now I am all for exploring strange and unknown places, but wandering into unknown woods all by myself in search of a cemetery – much less on the Friday before Halloween – gave a me a little bit of the heebeejeebies. I did it anyway.

On the south side of the road, in the general direction where Google claimed there was a cemetery, there was a gate leading to a cleared path into the woods. I followed it.

An open gate on my right; the road dead-ended behind me.

The path itself seemed fairly well maintained... except that it, too, dead-ended.

I expected the path to lead, perhaps to a clearing of some sort, where the cemetery would be located. Instead, the path dead ended in a giant block of limestone. There was no sign of a cemetery anywhere, and my sixth sense was definitely screaming heebeejeebies! at me, so I turned to go. Out of the corner of my eye, something glinted and caught my eye. It was a fairly new metal grave marker, but minus any sort of identification.

Clearly a modern grave marker from a funeral home

At first I thought that the metal marker was the only grave, but as I turned to go, I spotted two more: Gertrude Wright and Catherine Mazon:

Remains of potted flowers sat atop one of the graves.

The graves were overgrown and surrounded by brush. At first glance, they looked quite old; however, I was surprised that when I brushed the leaves off of them the dates were actually quite recent. Gertrude died in 1989, and Catherine in 1994.

Getrude Wright: 1915-1989

Catherine Mazon: 1938-1994

The idea of such recent graves, untended and overgrown and out in the middle of nowhere, was a little unsettling. I snapped some pictures and decided to head out. Halfway back to my car, I stopped to take a picture of the path, and yet again I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. This time it was a little orange survey flag… marking yet another grave.

Where I stopped to take a shot of the path out of the woods...

...and the two graves I spotted to my left.
These two graves, marking Eliza and Mark Emziah, respectively, were much older. The engraving was hand-carved. Eliza apparently lived from 1888-1918. Mark was either born in or died in 1917. There was another grave next to Mark’s with no visible writing. I took pictures, and looked around for more graves, but to no avail. Then I skeedaddled because I was feeling just a wee bit creeped out.
Eliza Emziah: 1888-1918

Eliza Emziah: closeup
Mark Emziah: 1917...

Mark Emziah: Closeup

This unmarked, overgrown, untended cemetery has haunted me for the past several days since I found it. How can a cemetery in which people were buried as recently as 20 years ago be abandoned? Who owns the property now? Why is it in the condition that it is in?

There is very little information on Asberry Cemetery available online. I found one site which labeled several individuals as having been buried in Asberry Cemetery; however, when clicking on the associated map, it turned out that what the website was calling Asberry Cemetery was actually the Spring Hill Cemetery in Traxler.

Here's an example of someone incorrectly labeled as having been buried at Asberry from billiongraves.com:

Close-up of the map view: Note how this is clearly Traxler; Asberry Cemetery is on the western side of I-75.

I did find one website, the Wizard of AR Alachua County Virtual Cemetery Project, which had the most information about Asberry. The goal of the website is to locate, photograph, and identify graves in cemeteries throughout Alachua County, Florida. The Wizard of AR folks visited Asberry Cemetery in 2005… and they located and photographed more than thirty graves. I saw six. There were apparently quite a few more hiding in the underbrush, and pictures of them all can be seen by clicking on the names listed on the Wizard of AR Asberry Cemetery page.

Looking through the photos on the Wizard of AR page, I noticed that several of the grave markers contained not only the names of the interred, but also the names of the funeral homes involved in the burials, specifically Chestnut Funeral Home and Duncan Brothers Funeral Home. A quick Google search revealed that these funeral homes primarily serve the local African American community, which leads me to conclude that this is an African American cemetery. I have tried to determine if there was an Asberry community or an Asberry church, but I have found no information whatsoever.

Regarding the property itself, it is on the eastern edge of a large tract of land owned by a limerock mining company (this information is courtesy of the Alachua County Property Appraiser's website, which has an excellent search function). While the property owners have clearly blocked the cemetery off with large blocks of limerock (thus explaining the large chunk of stone blocking the end of the path that I followed), and they are not conducting any mining on the cemetery grounds, they do not appear to be doing anything to maintain the cemetery itself. Benign neglect? Sigh.

From Google Earth you can see how the dirt road dead-ends in a turn-around. You can also see the limerock "wall" that not only blocks the road, but separates out the cemetery's territory from the rest of the mining territory. The 'path' which I walked looks more like a road from this shot, although it was blocked with a giant limestone rock at the treeline.

Traxler, Florida

Back in August, JOM of Gravel Cyclist mentioned to me that he'd ridden past the sign for Traxler many times, but that he'd never actually explored Traxler itself.

My response was, "What's Traxler?"

Well, as it turns out, not all that much.

Traxler was a small community founded by William H. Traxler in the late 1800s in northern Alachua county along the Bellamy Road. It was a cotton farming community, and life there revolved around the Traxler farm. In addition to the farm buildings and homes, there was also a general store, a US post office (which operated from 1891 to 1906), and a church. These days, there's little there other than the church and a few homes, mostly of modern vintage. The construction of I-75 may have obliterated outlying parts of the former community, but at this point in time, it's hard to tell.

Note Traxler's location along the Old Bellamy Road
(and, less fortunately, its current proximity to I-75)
The turn-off for Traxler from 253A; this section of road was once part of the Bellamy Road.
Old Bellamy Road leading into Traxler
Spring Hill United Methodist Church

The inscription reads: "TRAXLER, FLA This community was named Traxler in the late 1800s when William H. Traxler and Mary Dell Traxler operated a large trading center and US Post Office here. This memorial given in memory of their daughter, EVA TRAXLER"

Many Traxlers reside in the cemetery of the Spring Hill United Methodist Church
There really wasn't much to see in Traxler aside from the church. There were a handful of modern houses, and one older home, quite likely dating from the founding of the community. I didn't photograph it, as there were people out in its yard and that would have been a tad awkward. Ghosttowns.com does, however, have a picture of the house, which they've labeled as the Traxler plantation home. They've also got a shot of the old Traxler General Store, which I was unable to locate.

From CR 236 up by the interstate, one can peer over a locked gate at this, which looks to me to be more of the Old Bellamy Road, headed straight from CR236 just east of the interstate towards Traxler. Or it could be an old driveway headed towards the Traxler farm.
There's very little online about Traxler, but what little I could locate is here: Wikipedia: Traxler, FL GhostTowns.com: Traxler, FL Waymarking.com: Traxler, FL
There are a plethora of resources out there on the Old Bellamy Road, but here are a few: Wikipedia: Bellamy Road ExploreSouthernHistory.com: Old Bellamy Road FarEnoughPhoto: Old Bellamy Road

Rochelle, Florida

Back at the very beginning of August, just a week before I was to begin my summer vacation, I stumbled upon this article in the Huffington Post, which contained incredible photos of abandoned churches. I am not religious by any means, but I am indeed a confirmed Desolationist, which by its very nature means that any decrepit and haunting images of abandoned structures draw me in. As two of these very structures are located in Alachua County, Florida - the county in which I currently reside - I decided that finding them would be my goal for my summer vacation. I kind of failed. But only kind of.

I identified the two Alachua County churches as being in the tiny "towns" (and I use that term quite loosely) of Island Grove and Rochelle. I set out one morning, intending to find both churches, yet found neither. Granted, part of this was due to the fact that it was August in Florida and the AC in my car has ceased to produce air that is even remotely cool. I never even made it to Island Grove. Instead, after exploring Rochelle, I sped back home in my rolling oven of a Toyota in order to bask in my home's glorious AC. But I did, however, make it to Rochelle. Some online digging had uncovered the fact that the church I'd planned to go in search of was on private property. As I didn't know where said property was located or who owned it, I'd hoped to stumble upon the church simply by driving around Rochelle. At the very least, I figured I'd be able to photograph it from a distance. Hah! I didn't so much as catch a glimpse of the structure. I did, however, find quite a few things that were interesting and surprising - and quite photogenic.

In case you have no idea where Alachua County, Florida might be (it's the home of Gainesville and the University of Florida), here are a couple maps to point you in the direction of Rochelle:

According to Mike Woodfin of ghosttowns.com, Rochelle was the home of Madison Starke Perry, the fourth governor of the state. He is apparently buried in the community cemetery which, sadly, I did not locate. At the height of its boom days, Rochelle was home to 175 people, and had a hotel, schools, churches, and mills. It was also a stop for a very active railway line in the late 1800s. However, the town fell into decline after the freeze of 1895 which destroyed much of Florida's citrus crops. Today there are several homes, one active church, and not much else. The railroad line has been converted into a rails-to-trails bike path, popular with local cyclists. Is there anything worth seeing in Rochelle? Well, you can be the judge.

This is the central "square" of Rochelle - dominated by some gorgeous old oaks, dripping in Spanish moss. 

Several of the "roads" leading away from the central square look very much like this...

...and this.

Down one of those roads I discovered the remains of an old homestead which, according to ghosttowns.com is the old Bradley family home, dating back to the 1920s.

Another glimpse of the Bradley family home
I drove down many dirt "roads" in an attempt to locate the Trinity ME church which had lured me to the town in the first place, but to no avail. I did, however, stumble upon this fantastic structure, which was quite a pleasant discovery:

This building used to be the Martha Perry Institute, an all-girls school established in 1885 and named for the wife of Florida's then governor. The Martha Perry Institute remained in operation until the 1930s.

The building is locked up quite tightly to prevent against trespassing, and the windows were too high off the ground for me to see inside. I've no idea of the current condition of the interior, although the exterior seems to be decently maintained. So far the only picture of the interior I've been able to locate is this one, taken in 1901.

While walking around the exterior of the building, I looked up and saw this hanging from the second floor balcony. From the ground and through my camera it looked like a noose. It looks a lot less like a noose on my computer, but it freaked me out a bit - especially as I was out there by myself.

As I was staring at the pseudo-noose through my viewfinder trying to determine if it really was a noose or not, I heard what sounded like someone attempting to sneak up on me through the grass. I whirled around to see these handsome birds (sandhill cranes) stalking towards me. To be honest, they kind of scared the shit out of me for a moment. Nothing like trying to determine whether or not that's a noose you see dangling there only to be startled by the sound of someone sneaking up on you.

I watched them for a good chunk of time; they were fairly oblivious to me.

There wasn't much else to see in Rochelle. This, I believe, is the old Spence family homestead, located just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Martha Perry Institute. I drove around a bit more, but I never did find the church.
The following links go to what few online resources pertaining to Rochelle I was able to discover:
Stephen Tabone Photography of the Trinity ME Church GhostTowns.com: Rochelle The Forgotten Frontier (blog post)
Historic Rochelle, Florida (YouTube) Ghost Town Rochelle (YouTube)