Park Avenue Historic District (Tallahassee, Florida)

The oldest home in the district is The Columns, built by William "Money" Williams in 1830. Today it serves as the headquarters of the James Madison Institute. The Murphy House, c. 1838, now houses antique stores. The William V. Knott House, c. 1843, houses an admission free house museum. Both houses may have been built by a free Black contractor named George Proctor.[1] The Knott House was temporarily used as the headquarters of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation was read from its steps on May 20, 1865 declaring freedom for all slaves in the Florida Panhandle.[2] Other notable buildings include First Presbyterian Church, the oldest remaining church building in Tallahassee, the David S. Walker Library, and the LeMoyne Art Foundation.

The Old City Cemetery sits at the western end of the district at the corner of Park Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard. It is the oldest public burying ground in Tallahassee. The cemetery was racially segregated until 1937 when African Americans were completely barred from the cemetery. A special section was also set aside for the Jewish community due to a religious requirement for specially consecrated ground.[3]

One large notable grave marker belongs to Mrs Elizabeth (Bessie) Budd Graham (died 1889) also called "The Witch's Grave". The gray French granite obelisk is estimated to weigh more than fifteen tons in an elaborate Victorian design. The grave marker has a number of unusual characteristics including facing West and cryptic epitaph made up of lines from Edgar Allan Poe's poem Lenore. Despite rumors of witchcraft there is "nothing whatsoever has come to light to warrant insinuations about her having been a witch—no document or even folklore from her time. There is nothing but nonsense, and most of that is apparent fakelore and social-media talklore"[4]

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  Entry to Old City Cemetery
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  The Grounds of the cemetery
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  Old markers in the City Cemetery