The Community of Crandall has a long and storied history. The labor of Gullah/Geechee people figures prominently in that narrative. Census records confirm that their migration at the turn of the century, from Georgia and the Carolinas into northeast Florida, began increasing around the 19-teens as Black families from throughout the coastal southeast sought work in the turpentine and saw mill tenant labor camps. Exhaustion of the timber supply,  corporate consolidation of private turpentine stills, and the end of the turpentine industry by the 1950s led to displacement of the labor force. The cemetery is likely spiritually associated with Friendship Baptist Church, organized in Crandall in 1898, with Rev. Henderson (initials unknown) as the first pastor. Worshippers first occupied the white, square frame structure, with a steeple and bell in 1917. The eventual relocation of the residents and the church meant that Gullah/Geechee tenant laborers had no choice in leaving Crandall Cemetery behind. They did not abandon the sacred ancestral burial site. While the cemetery is unknown to the current generation, descendants of the dearly departed (the most recent interred in 1969), reverently remember the souls committed to the consecrated grounds overlooking the St. Marys River.

This virtual Community Conversation is conducted as public outreach under the state's Abandoned African American Cemeteries Grant Program. It will explore  Crandall Community Cemetery in the context of its past. It will provide an assessment of the site's current condition, and it will review options for protecting it into the future.

Register for the free webinar at:

https://flaglercollege.zoom.us/meeting/register/jo7tcggvSAC9oG5EgFulEw  

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.