Bosque Bello Cemetery Moves Closer to National Historic Designation

FERNANDINA BEACH — The city cemetery that has chronicled more than two centuries of Fernandina Beach history moved closer Wednesday to receiving national recognition.

The Florida National Register Review Board voted to forward Bosque Bello Cemetery’s nomination to the National Park Service for final consideration for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

The federal review could result in all 34 acres of the city-owned cemetery being recognized for their connection to Fernandina Beach’s early settlement, multicultural development and African American history. The National Park Service has 45 days to approve or reject the nomination.

The state board’s approval marked a major milestone in a joint effort involving the Amelia Island Fernandina Restoration Foundation, the City Commission, the city’s Parks and Recreation and Planning and Conservation departments, and Terracon Inc., which prepared the nomination.

Planning and Conservation Department staff members Mia Sadler and Mackennah Tarmey traveled to Tallahassee to attend Wednesday’s Florida Division of Historical Resources meeting and speak in support of the nomination.

Inclusion on the National Register is one of the nation’s highest forms of recognition for historically significant properties. It could also make Bosque Bello eligible for additional preservation and restoration funding.

Bosque Bello was established around 1798 during Florida’s Second Spanish Period, when Domingo Fernandez donated land to the community for use as a public burial ground. The cemetery predates Florida statehood and the 1811 Spanish plat of Old Town Fernandina.

The oldest known surviving grave marker in the cemetery dates to 1813.

“Bosque Bello is beautiful,” Patricia Davenport-Jacobs, senior architectural historian with Terracon, told city commissioners during their June 17, 2025, meeting. “Not only did we have a good time diving into the history and documenting it, but we also feel that we have a good application.”

The cemetery consists of eight parcels and includes an Old, or Ancient, Section and a New Section. It remains an active public cemetery, with documented burials spanning from 1813 through 2025.

More than 6,300 marked burials are located within Bosque Bello. The cemetery reflects the multicultural history of Fernandina Beach, with people of French, Spanish, English, Scots Irish, German, Greek and Portuguese heritage buried there, along with African American and Jewish residents.

Veterans of nearly every American war are also buried at Bosque Bello.

The National Register application identified several areas of historical significance, including settlement and exploration, community planning and development, and African American ethnic heritage. Because cemeteries must meet additional requirements to qualify for the National Register, the application also documented Bosque Bello’s association with important historical events and people, its distinctive landscape and its age.

The cemetery’s connection to Fernandina Beach’s earliest history was one of the nomination’s central elements. Bosque Bello predates the original plat of Old Town Fernandina and remains one of the few surviving resources directly connected to the community’s earliest development.

“Settlement/exploration is one of our stronger parts that we have,” Davenport-Jacobs said during the application process.

The nomination also documents Bosque Bello’s importance to the history of Fernandina Beach’s African American community.

During segregation, sections of the cemetery were designated for Black burials. The historic African American burial area in the southern portion of the Old Section contains numerous vernacular markers, including hand-pressed and hand-inscribed concrete markers.

Division 71, historically known as the New Colored Section, was platted in 1947 as the cemetery expanded.

According to the application, conditions in portions of the historically Black sections reflect decades of unequal investment in public infrastructure. Some graves are unmarked or believed to be unmarked, while other grave markers need maintenance or resetting.

Bosque Bello is also the final resting place of people who played significant roles in the development of Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island.

Members of the Tringali family, prominent figures in Fernandina’s shrimping industry, are buried there. So is Demetrios Nicholas Deonas, a Greek immigrant who helped develop the larger “super trawler” used in the shrimping industry.

Thomas and Sarah Delaney, who came to Amelia Island as freed slaves following the Civil War, are also buried at Bosque Bello. Their son, Henry Beard Delany, became the first African American Episcopal bishop in the United States.

William Henderson Peck Sr., an educator who served as principal of Nassau Colored School No. 1 for five decades, is buried in the cemetery. The school later became Peck High School and was named in his honor.

Estelle Sibley Rogers, one of Florida’s first female funeral directors and embalmers and a local advocate for women’s suffrage, is another notable person buried at Bosque Bello.

The cemetery’s physical landscape also contributes to its historical significance. Mature native and ornamental trees shade grave markers that include marble and granite tablets, box tombs, crypts, bronze plaques and vernacular concrete markers.

Brick, coquina, tabby and planted surrounds define many of the older family burial plots. Despite surrounding development and the cemetery’s continued expansion, much of its historic setting, layout and tree canopy remains intact.

Bosque Bello has remained in its original location southeast of Old Town and continues to serve as Amelia Island’s only public cemetery. Its continued use provides a direct link between Fernandina Beach’s past and present.

The Ancient Section of Bosque Bello previously received some federal recognition through its inclusion in the Original Town of Fernandina Historic Site, which was added to the National Register in 1990. The current nomination seeks recognition for the entire cemetery as a historically significant property in its own right.

National Register listing does not prevent a property owner from changing a historic property or impose new federal restrictions when no federal money, licensing or permits are involved. It does, however, require consideration of the cemetery’s historic character when federally funded or permitted projects could affect it.

The designation could also create opportunities for federal and state preservation grants. During the application process, Lorelei Jacobs, vice chair of the Amelia Island Fernandina Restoration Foundation and the city’s grants administrator, said National Register status could help the city pursue funding for restoration work at that June 17, 2025, meeting.

Bosque Bello, which means “beautiful woods,” is open to visitors daily from 7:30 a.m. until dusk. Self-guided walking tour materials and an informational pamphlet are available at the Amelia Island Visitors Center and online.