ROSE CEMETERY

Rose Cemetery, also known as Rose Hill Cemetery, established in the early 1900s as a segregated cemetery, is the oldest African-American cemetery in Pinellas County. Located on approximately five acres of land, the cemetery reflects the social history and cultural traditions associated with Christianity and early African-American customs. Many of the African-Americans buried here were of Bahamian descent, and some of their graves are marked by large conch shells. Although the earliest grave marked states 1904, there are strong indications of earlier burials. Rose Hill Cemetery Association was first incorporated on November 22, 1916, when the Lake Butler Villa Company gave the African-American board members a 99-year lease. The following year, in 1917, the property was deeded to the Association. Through the 1950s Rose Cemetery served other black communities throughout the county. Many difficulties through those years, including destroyed records, haphazard burials, and limited funding, resulted in many unmarked and misplaced graves. Significant burials included the founders of the local African-American churches started in the 1890s, and an African American Confederate Civil War veteran, Richard Quarls (1830-1925).