The Key West Graveyard will be really interesting for history buffs. In stark contrast to it’s lively surroundings, it remains a peaceful, serious and stoic oasis in the heart of the city. The final resting place of many brave pioneers and lots of colorful characters. Evidence of the often harsh living conditions and heart-wrenching personal losses are immediately evident. Young mothers and children are buried together next to hanged pirates, slaves, hurricane victims and naval heroes.
If you visit, walk softly and respectfully.
The Cemetery is located at 701 Passover Lane and consists of 19-acres at the foot of Solares Hill in the northeast section of Old Town. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people are buried there with gravestones dating back to the mid 1800’s. This cemetery is still active with up to 100 new burials each year, and contains people of all races and nationalities, and includes separate plots dedicated to Catholics, Protestants, Jews and the Navy.
The original burial ground was located near the coastal sand dunes of Whitehead Point (near present day Higgs Beach and the West Martello Tower). However graves were washed away and disinterred bodies and caskets were scattered throughout the island following the Great Havana Hurricane of 1846. This Category 5 hurricane struck Cuba then curved toward Florida maintaining its intensity when it struck Key West.
To prevent future flooding the Key West Cemetery was established in 1847 at its current location on Solares Hill which is in the center of Old Town and the highest natural elevation on the island rising 18 feet above sea level at its highest point. This cemetery is bounded by Angela, Margaret, Frances and Olivia Streets with the entrance being on Passover Lane.
Many lives were taken by the great fire of 1886, the Yellow Fever epidemic that swept across the island in 1887 and 1888, and some by war including the Battleship Maine disaster of 1898. Many were killed in the numerous hurricanes that hit the island and several souls interred here met their fate at the end of the hangman’s noose. Many famous and prominent families who played a huge role in establishing Key West are buried here, as well as those who left behind a more infamous legacy. The cemetery has a past as rich and colorful as the island itself which has more than 30,000 residents who currently reside here.
Famous Gravesites
Elena Milagro Hoyos
She is the most infamous and unfortunate person buiried here. Her death involves one of the most notorious events to ever take place in Key West. It’s the very disturbing story of German radiologist Karl Tanzler (a.k.a. Count Karl Von Cosel) who worked at the U.S. Marine Hospital in Key West and had a morbid obsession for the young Cuban-American girl. named
When Elena was diagnosed with tuberculosis she was taken to the hospital for examination where Dr. Tanzler thought he recognized her as the beautiful dark-haired woman revealed to him in his “visions”. Tanzler cared for Elena until her death on October 25, 1931 at the age of 22 years. He paid for her stone mausoleum which he equipped with a telephone so he could communicate with her.
Tanzler visited Elena’s tomb daily until April 1933, almost two years after her death. Then Tanzler stole Elena’s corpse and carted it through the cemetery on a toy wagon to an old airplane fuselage located behind the local Marine hospital. Here he built a make-shift laboratory and began restoring her body by wiring her bones together with piano wire and using mortician’s wax and plaster of Paris to reconstruct her features, even inserting glass eyes. Tanzler dressed Elena in a wedding gown and slept with her mummified corpse which he considered his bride. Eventually her family realized that her body had been dug up and removed from the grave. They immediately called police and implicated Tanzler. He was eventually caught by the police and arrested.
Abraham Lincoln Sawyer
The midget “General” Abraham Lincoln Sawyer (1862-1939) who although stood approximately 41 inches tall and weighed 58 pounds had requested burial in the grave of a full-sized man.
John Wallace Mitchell
Originally from New Bedford, Massachusetts, John Wallace Mitchell (1885-1929) came to Key West to help construct the Overseas Railroad. The Mitchell family vault features many gables and archways and John, wife Edna, and two sons, Wallace Herttell and Glenn Osgood, are all buried within the walls of the brick mausoleum.
Austin and Tina Griffin
Born in the Bahamas, Austin and Tina Griffin emigrated to Key West and were married in 1886. Austin shot his wife Tina at the breakfast table and then took his own life with carbolic acid on October 16, 1907. Mrs. Griffin was separated from her husband and refused to leave the home demanding some of the property.
John H. Sawyer
Captain John H. Sawyer was born in Mystic Connecticut but died in Key West in September 1843 at the age of 41. His grave is one of the oldest in the Key West Cemetery and was moved from its original location on the coastal sand dunes of Whitehead Point near present day Higgs Beach, along with his brother James Sawyer.
James Sawyer
James Sawyer was born in Mystic Connecticut but died in Key West in November 1829 at the age of 32. His grave is one of the oldest in the Key West Cemetery and was moved from its original location on Whitehead Point along with his brother Capt. John Sawyer. The inscription reads, “Almighty God! His might is just that earthly frames should turn to dust, but O the quiet consoling truth the soul shall bloom in endless youth”.
Cornelius Bradford and Wilhelmina G. Harvey
The Harvey Family Plot is the final resting place of Wilhelmina G. Harvey (1912-2005) and Cornelius Bradford (C.B.) Harvey (1908-1988). Both served as elected public officials for Monroe County and the City of Key West.
