Coon Hill Cemetery Day
Coon Hill CemeteryVisitation Day
November 19, 2016
In about 1820 settlers concentrated in an area alongside a creek with fresh water flowing from both sides, later named Diamond Creek. Coon Hill was chosen by a vote of the early pioneers over Opossum Hill. This was the first town in the area now known as northwest Santa Rosa County.
In 1838, President Andrew Jackson’s army gathered the Indians and marched them to Oklahoma to be settled on a Reservation. The early pioneers now felt safe to move further out, but Coon Hill was still the headquarters to receive mail and to purchase equipment and supplies and other essentials of life. The post office was located there about 1845.
The Post Office was moved to Chumuckla around 1900 and located in a small building across the dirt road from the old cotton gin. The mail was still delivered by Pony Express. At about the same time, the last house in the Coon Hill Community was torn down and reassembled by the movers as they now began settling from the Alabama State line to the Wallace Community. The last building standing was the Methodist-Baptist Church which was later torn down and the lumber used to build the first parsonage at Elizabeth Chapel Church. All that remains of the Coon Community is the cemetery.
Buried in the cemetery are:
First Postmaster at Coon Hill: William Larkin Williams Second Postmaster: William Larkin [Son of the first postmaster] Third Postmaster: E. C. Severson. Neill C McMillan: [elected to the Florida Senate in 1845, the year that Florida became a state.] Edward McCaskill: [elected as a State Representative and later as a State Senator.] Two Santa Rosa County Tax Assessors: William Larkin Williams & Charles Edward Campbell Two Circuit Riding Preachers: • Rev. Sharrod L Hart –1823-1859 • Rev. Robert Smilie -1827-1906. Fifteen Civil War Veterans: Campbell, Diamond, Mayo, McCaskill, and McMillan.
The oldest marker is dated 1836.
There were many early grave markers made of Heart Pine Boards. They are all gone, some were mapped and recorded and replaced and others were not. After the settlers moved out a wall was needed to protect the cemetery from fire and wildlife. The concrete wall was constructed about 1895-1900 with sand and gravel moved by slip-scoops pulled by mules from nearby Diamond Creek. The cement was supplied by William J Williams Hardware Store in Milton.
The cemetery was vandalized in: May 2000, May 2003 & December 2006. We are thankful to those who have made contributions of money and hard work to restore it to the current condition.
We hope you will make plans to visit this Historic Place.
Information: Jayhistoricalsociety@gmail.com
