PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – The historic Braddock Mason-Denver Cemetery in Putnam County dates back to the 1800s.
When the burial ground was leveled last month, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the state Department of Financial Services opened an investigation.
Since then, News4JAX has learned that the state is no longer investigating the disturbance because the cemetery is exempt. Now, a group of historians are pushing back against the state’s decision, arguing that dozens of bodies buried there remain in unmarked graves.
“It sounds like it’s just a technicality,” Bill Blair, the secretary of the Florida Confederation for the Preservation of Historic Sites said.
Recent drone footage shows the abandoned cemetery has been leveled, with overgrown vegetation cleared out after the property was sold last year. The new out-of-state owner told authorities he planned to place a mobile home on the property.
“That’s hallowed ground. Americans have died on that land, on that property, and we need to do everything we can to protect that as a historic site,” Blair said, arguing that no construction should occur on the land, licensed or unlicensed, as it remains a cemetery and the site of a Civil War battle.
Historians estimate that dozens—possibly over 100—unmarked graves exist on the property.
“It was a community cemetery. So anybody in that area, in the Mason Denver area, would be buried there,” Blair said. “Because the people in that area were very poor. They didn’t have the money to be able to spend on markers. Some would have been buried with maybe a wooden headstone, which has long ago deteriorated.”
The state’s Division of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services only regulates licensed cemeteries. Florida has approximately 3,000-5,000 cemeteries, but fewer than 200 are licensed.
According to the division’s website: “The Division has extremely limited authority over exempt or unlicensed cemeteries.”
“I’m very disappointed,” Blair explained. “I thought the state would be able to help us because it’s state law that prevents people from destroying cemeteries.”
In an attempt to prevent further damage, he said he is collaborating with the Putnam County Cemetery Project. The group says documents dating back to 1885 indicate the entire plot was designated as a burial ground.
“I just want this to stop. We can’t fix what has already been done, but I think that we need to stop any type of building on that property,” Blair said.
As of now, Putnam County has not received any official building plans for the Braddock Mason-Denver Cemetery. The sheriff’s office has confirmed that an active investigation is still underway, but no criminal charges have been filed.
In an official statement, Devin Galetta with the Florida Department of Finacial Services said, “DFS continues to monitor this situation and has notified appropriate state and local authorities.”