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Hernando Today

Cemetery Clean Up Preserves History

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: September 14, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Alyce Walker isn't going to let Mother Nature encroach on what she considers a historical site.

Before she is done, she is determined to make everyone else acknowledge what she has for years. The African American Spring Hill Cemetery is a resting area for those who once were the backbone of the community.

Several people volunteered Saturday to cut grass, remove brush and sweep over the headstones at the three-acre cemetery, which is located at 8580 Fort Dade Ave.

Sometimes, Walker feels as if she is going at it alone.

"Some people don't love family," she said before a long pause to keep from crying. "It's all about loving family. People today, they don't even know their own family. Cousins don't know other cousins ... You shouldn't forget your roots."

Walker walked along the outer edge of the cemetery and pointed to all of the graves containing the bodies of people who lived in Brooksville 25, 50 and 100 years ago. She and her family knew many of them.

The Timmons, Mobleys, Ingrams, Hopkins all are buried at Spring Hill Cemetery.

James B. Huggins - who was born in 1890 and died in 1969 - served in the U.S. Army during World War I.

Jesse and Ollie Washington, both born in the late 1800s, owned a plot of land along U.S. 41, which is now the site of SunTrust Bank, Walker said.

She went on and on about who lived where and how she knew them.

"I picked up the cross in 1991," she said when asked how long she has been organizing annual clean ups at the cemetery.

The African American Spring Hill Cemetery Association has been formed. Walker has plans to open an account and collect contributions for the purchase of lights, gates, sprinklers and a pavilion. Her goal is to see the property become an official historical site.

A lot of work already has been done. The local Boy Scouts put up a wooden fence along the edge of the cemetery in May.

"It shows us a boundary we didn't know before," Walker said.

Dozens of volunteers donned their garden gloves and went to work. Two were riding lawnmowers and two others clearing the headstones using leaf blowers. Some pulled weeds while others stuffed trash bags.

Walker wore a red straw hat, gloves and work clothes. She removed brush, gave a guided tour of the cemetery and prepared the lunches. The 81-year-old refused to stand still.

"They owned land here," Walker said of the people buried at the cemetery. "They were hard workers. It's history that deserves to be preserved."

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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