JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A long-forgotten African American cemetery in Jacksonville, where World War II veterans and descendants of slave families are buried, is finally receiving the honor and recognition it deserves.
At St. Nicholas Bethel Cemetery, new markers now stand where the names and legacies of 50 men, women, and children had nearly been erased. The restoration has been a labor of love for Army veteran Veronica Kight and her historic church community.
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“I get a little emotional now as a veteran when I come out here to see the trash that’s over service men and women’s graves,” said Kight.
Her heartbreak over the cemetery’s condition prompted her to reach out to News4JAX’s I-TEAM in March 2023. The cemetery, tucked away in Spring Park off Phillips Highway, was overrun by trash, thick brush, and trees—what should have been sacred ground had been neglected for years.
“Beer cans, bottles, disrespect, no one cares,” Kight recalled.
News4JAX learned that roughly 50 African Americans are buried at St. Nicholas Bethel Cemetery, many of them military veterans. Among them is Air Force Airman Leon Holland, with others dating back to the early 1900s.
The discovery galvanized the church community into action. They secured official recognition for the site as a Jacksonville Historic Landmark, cleared the land, and in June 2024, archaeologists carefully mapped every grave.
For the first time in decades, the people buried here were truly seen.
“I believe that today, everybody who’s here in St. Nicholas Cemetery will be more at rest when we set the headstone for the veterans and for the people who are buried here,” Kight said.
The cemetery grounds have been cleared and leveled, the process of carefully marking each grave has begun, and work is underway to place headstones on the graves of veterans.
“We have a Korean War veteran that is set. And so we are going to line up off of that,” said Chris Bunton of the Kirby Smith Camp/Sons of Confederate Veterans organization. “We will set military-style headstones that you would see in Arlington, and they’ll be in a straight line, and all the guys will be represented and remembered.”
The land itself also has a deep history, which Maria Edwards, the project coordinator and grant writer, explained.
“This land is called the Phillips land lot 15, which was originally 65 acres that included the church, and it was run and given to former slaves, which formed a community here and actually grew this community,” Edwards said. “So those are the people, families, soldiers. There’s nine soldiers and one World War I veteran, and just families, children, all kinds of people are here which were part of this community.”
Now, the cemetery is no longer just a burial ground—it’s a memorial and a sacred space for generations to come.
“As being a veteran, we don’t ever want to be forgotten because we are patriots, long-term patriots, until we die. We don’t want our name to go unnoticed. We don’t want to be forgotten by anybody,” Kight said.
The Historic St. Nicholas Bethel Church and project coordinators hope to have the official headstones placed by the end of August. The gravestones will resemble those at Arlington National Cemetery.
Historians are also creating signage at the cemetery entrance, so visitors can learn more about the lives of those buried there.