Tag Archives: Charlotte Jane Memorial Cemetery

Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery Vandalized

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Early this evening I received a call from one of my sources to tell me a crypt in the Sarah Jane Memorial Park Cemetery had been vandalized.

A few hours later they sent me 2 pictures of this despicable act. The crypt was completely desecrated. The working theory at the moment is that the vandal believed there may have been something of value buried in the grave.

Apparently this is not the first time this grave has been broken into.

At one time the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery was the only place in Miami that Black folks could be buried. The cemetery has also been the victim of the false rumour that Michael Jackson shot the graveyard scenes for Thriller here. However, John Landis said those scenes were shot on a Hollywood back lot.

This is one of my favourite places in Coconut Grove. I visit this beautiful cemetery almost every time I’m in West Grove and have made thousands of pictures there. In fact, it was just yesterday I posted my latest photo album of the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery on facebook. Those pictures were taken on June 17th.

I will follow up with Miami Police tomorrow, but for now my heart is broken.

Here are just a few of the pictures I’ve take of the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery over the years.

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Seven ► Signs along Charles Avenue

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The Charles Avenue historical marker with the
historic E.W.F. Stirrup House in the background.

Now that the City of Miami has designated Charles Avenue an Historic Designation Roadway (whatever that is supposed to mean), the informational signs along Charles Avenue might get a little more attention. Every day several tour buses rumble down Charles Avenue, starting at the Coconut Grove Playhouse and the Charles Avenue historical marker all the way down to the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery at South Douglas Road. The bus slows down at various locations, and even stops along the route, but no one ever gets out. No one! Any pictures taken are taken through the windows.

The original historical marker (at left) commemorates the first Black Bahamian residents who settled the area in the 1880s. It reads:

The marker in 2010.

“The first black community on the South Florida mainland began here in the late 1880s, when Blacks primarily from the Bahamas came via Key West to work at the Peacock Inn. Their first hand experience with tropical plants and building materials proved invaluable to the development of Coconut Grove. Besides private homes the early buildings included the Odd Fellows Hall, which served as a community center and library, Macedonia Baptist Church, home of the oldest black congregation in the area, and the A.M.E. Methodist Church, which housed the community’s first school. At the western end of Charles Avenue is one of the area’s oldest cemeteries.”


When I first discovered the marker in 2009 I wondered why it hadn’t been kept in good repair. At the bottom, in smaller letters, it reads “Sponsored by Eastern Airlines in cooperation with the Historical Association of Southern Florida.” Eastern Airlines went out of business in 1991. I couldn’t find out when the Historical Association of Southern Florida became defunct, but it no longer seems to exist either. I also couldn’t understand why it was being used as a trash pick-up spot. However, every time I visited there was a whole new assortment of garbage piled up around the base, so clearly the trash was being picked up from there on collection day.

The 120-year old E.W.F. Stirrup House.

The marker has recently been straightened and a flowering plant has been stuck in the ground next to it, but it was hard not to see the state of the marker as a metaphor for Race Relation in ‘Merka from the distant past right up to the present. The E.W.F. Stirrup House is a manifest representation to how Black History is treated in ‘Merka, marginalized and only mentioned for one month of the year, if at all. Yet Black history is ALL of our histories and, not to put to fine a point on it, it was the Black folk that did most of the hard work that built this country. As the Charles Avenue historical marker makes clear, the Black folk also taught the White folk how to survive in the godforsaken swamp that was Coconut Grove in the late 1800s.

 However, the Charles Avenue historical marker is not the only sign along Charles Avenue. At some time in the relative recent past a number of informational signs were erected, too small to be appreciated by even the most eagle-eyed passengers on the tour buses.

A few doors west of the E.W.F. Stirrup House is the current United Christian Church of Christ, aka Coconut Grove Seventh-day Adventist Church, which had once been the Odd Fellows Hall mentioned on the Charles Avenue historical marker. A sign in from of the building, erected by the Coconut Grove Cemetery Association, tells of the history of the Odd Fellows Hall and its importance to the early settlers of Coconut Grove.

Moving westward, immediately next door to the Odd Fellows Hall, is the Mariah Brown House. The Brown House predates the E.W.F. Stirrup House and is said to be the first house owned by a Black Bahamian on Evangelist Street, as Charles Avenue was first known. This means it predates the beautiful 120-year old Stirrup House at the end of the block.

The Brown House has been empty and boarded up as long as I have been visiting Charles Avenue, and quite a bit longer, I am told.

The sign in front of the Brown house speaks of the first settlers and makes it clear that these were the people who served, or worked for, the few White folk who had already moved to the area. The sign also mentions three early families who settled on Charles Avenue. Conspicuously absent is the Stirrup name.

As one moves farther west along the street, at the corner of Charles Avenue and Plaza Street, is a two-sided sign paying tribute to the unique Bahamian architecture brought here by those first immigrants who helped settle the area.

The Mariah Brown House is an example of a Conch, or Bahamian, house.

The reverse of the sign, with an example of a gentrified “shotgun” house in the background.
Two gentrified shotgun houses turned inwards, faces removed from the street view.

I’ve written more fulsomely about the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery elsewhere. However, I include its sign here for completeness.

At the very end of the street, immediately across the street from the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery, and outside what is currently known as the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, is the last sign on our Charles Avenue signage tour. Another two-sided sign, it speaks to the importance of religion to the original settlers along what used to be known as Evangelist Street, for rather obvious reasons.

The tour buses that ramble down Charles Avenue do not take enough time to impart the information on the signs along the route. I wonder is what the passengers are told, if anything, about the original Bahamian community that made and built Coconut Grove, currently considered one of the most exclusive areas in all of ‘Merka.

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A Charles Avenue Love Story ► Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Five

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The Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery

On the corner of Charles Avenue and South Douglas Rd., on the opposite end of the street from the E.W.F. Stirrup House, is the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery. It dates back to the early 1900s and at one time — and for a long time — was the only place in Coconut Grove where Black folk could consecrate and bury their dead.

The entrance to the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery. 180 degree panorama by author.

Charlotte Jane was E.W.F. Stirrup’s childhood sweetheart. I know
almost nothing about her, save for this: In the 1870s or 1880s Ebenezer
Woodbury Franklin Stirrup made his first pilgrimage to the United
States. He came up through Key West, where he stopped for a while and apprenticed as a carpenter with an uncle. This is the skill he would eventually utilize in Coconut Grove to great effect, building more than 100 houses in the area, including his own show piece at the other end of Charles Avenue. Stirrup reportedly spent 10 years working for his uncle in Key West before he decided he would head north to see what life was like on the mainland. However, before he did he went back to the Bahamas to marry his childhood sweetheart. Then he brought her
back with him, eventually settling in Cutler Bay for a time.

Photo by Stefan Kokemüller
From Wikipedia Commons

I try to imagine that trip, which Mr. Stirrup took at least 3 times in his life. It could not have been easy. The trip from the Bahamas to Key West was obviously an ocean journey. At one time — and for a long time — Key West was the largest city in Florida and remained unconnected to the mainland until 1912, when Henry Flagler completed his railroad. Consequently the journey from Key West to the mainland was another ocean voyage. It would have been far easier, in those times, to sail directly to Cutler Bay. There would have been few roads, if any. Southern Florida was swampland, overgrown with mangrove, pine, oak and banyan trees, not to mention alligators and snakes. Traversing the lower end of the Florida peninsula by land would have been a harrowing and nearly impossible journey.

E.W.F. and Charlotte Jane Stirrup first settled in Cutler Bay, about 13 miles from where they eventually settled. For
whatever reason Cutler Bay was not to his liking and he decided to move north to
the nascent community of Coconut Grove, where he eventually settled and
built his beautiful house and more than 100 others.

The Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery was originally known by the more generic names of Coconut Grove Cemetery or Grove’s Bahamian Cemetery. It opened in 1904, or 1906 (both dates are cited in various places) and was originally owned by the city (despite what I stated elsewhere). According to the USGenWeb Archives, Mary Washburn writes:

In 1913, the cemetery property was purchased by five families for the sum of $140.00.  The families that purchased the property are Burrow, Higgs, Reddick, Ross and the E.W.F. Stirrup families.


The first burial was Joseph Mayor he was buried as Daniel Anderson.  Daniel Anderson and his wife Catherine Anderson were the founders of the Christ Episcopal Church.


Also buried here is Capt. John Sweeting, developer and commercial fisherman who Settled the ground now know as Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery.

There has long been a rumour to the effect that Michael Jackson filmed the cemetery scenes to “Thriller” at the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery and you’ll find many references on the innertubes citing that. This is totally incorrect. WikiAnswers states:

Contrary to rumors, the cemetery scenes of Thriller were actually filmed on a soundstage and not at an actual cemetery. This fact is clearly proven by watching the DVD release of Thriller. During the wide-shot of the cemetery set as Michael and Ola walk past, various lighting and rigs can be seen over head.

Again, the cemetery sequence was NOT filmed in a real cemetery.

No matter because the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery is a lovely little cemetery, with a long history of its own. In Florida, as in New Orleans, caskets cannot be buried below ground because of the water table. Unlike the New Orleans’ crypts you are used to seeing, the graves at the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery are simple and uncomplicated, paralleling the economic realities of a Black community in 20th Century ‘Merka.

In the years since I have been visiting Charles Avenue I have taken thousands of pictures of the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery, some of which I’d like to share with you.

Memorial Day, 2010

Memorial Day, 2010

Memorial Day, 2010

Memorial Day, 2010

Memorial Day, 2010

Memorial Day, 2010

Memorial Day, 2010

All photographs © copyright 2012 by author.

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Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Two ► E.W.F. Stirrup House

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Standing proud. The beautiful E.W.F. Stirrup House.

The E.W.F. Stirrup House (left) at 3242 Charles Avenue, Miami, FL, 33133, is reportedly one of the last wood frame homes in Miami-Dade County. It is almost certainly one of the oldest houses, built in the late 19th century, as Caribbean Blacks started arriving in lower Florida to work at the Peacock Inn. The house sticks out on Charles Avenue, but also in Florida. Homes don’t look like this anywhere else. According to a report looking in to designating the E.W.F. Stirrup House a Miami historical site:

The key elements that reflect its nineteenth century origins are its extremely narrow proportions, the size and shape of the fenestration, and its L-shaped plan. This design is based on a builder’s tradition, and was especially popular throughout America in the last half of the nineteenth century.
There is more than one way to describe this property type. In their book A Field Guide to American Houses, Virginia and Lee McAlester describe it as a “front gable folk house.” In a more detailed article, Barbara Wyatt of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin described it as a “Gabled Ell.” Wyatt explains that this type was especially common in late–nineteenth century America, and was almost exclusively a residential type. The Gabled Ell takes the form of two gabled wings that are perpendicular to one another, and that are frequently of different heights.

The longitudinal face parallel to the street almost always had the lower height. The result was typically an L-shaped plan. Ms. Wyatt explains that the form allowed for outdoor living space (the porch) and a sheltered entrance. Entry is always via the porch at the “ell,” or junction of the two wings.

My latest panorama of the E.W.F. Stirrup House and the historical marker that started my journey.

The Stirrup House mailbox in 2010

While the E.W.F. Stirrup House certainly deserves to be preserved for its age and architecture, it also needs to be preserved as a standing monument to Ebenezer Woodbury Franklin Stirrup, one of the people who built Coconut Grove with his bare hands.

E.W.F. Stirrup arrived in Coconut Grove in 1899 at the age of 25. Like a lot of Bahamians, he first migrated to Key West. There he apprenticed with an uncle as a carpenter, a trade he would utilize later. After 10 years, and unhappy with the financial arrangement with his uncle, Stirrup first moved to Cutler, Florida, working in pineapple fields and clearing lots for houses. Occasionally, instead of cash, Stirrup was paid in land, which began his real estate holdings that at one time included most of downtown Coconut Grove. That’s what made him one of Florida’s first Black millionaires. However, that’s not what made him extraordinary, especially for his times.

As his landholdings increased Stirrup began building houses which he rented and sold to other Bahamians who had emigrated up through Key West to take the jobs offered by Coconut Grove’s growing tourist industry. According to Kate Stirrup Dean, Stirrup’s oldest daughter:

Father believed in every family having a house, a yard and a garden, so you would feel like you had a home. He felt that people became better citizens when they owned their own homes.

The Mariah Brown House with its marker and No Trespassing sign.

Stirrup apparently built more than 100 houses, often at night after a full day’s work. Because of this Coconut Grove had a greater percent of Black home
ownership than any other ‘Merkin city I have studied. Most other cities
had a higher percentage of rental properties and absentee landlords as a result
of the neighbourhoods once belonging to other ethnic types who moved up
and out, a natural progression. Coconut Grove was an area settled almost entirely by Blacks when there was nothing but swamp and wilderness surrounding it. They didn’t inherit the neighbourhood, they built it and owned it themselves.

Stirrup was obviously a proud man because his house, which once dominated a large lot at the east end of Charles Avenue overlooking his estate, is a showpiece. It looks nothing like the simple Bahamian style homes he built for his neighbours. One of the last surviving examples of the Bahamian style is The Mariah Brown House, which pre-dates Stirrup’s arrival by nine years. It is thought to be the first house owned by a Black person in the area. A report was also prepared to designate the Brown House a Miami historical property. The report declares the Brown House:

[O]ne of the most important remaining sites from this early black Bahamian settlement in Coconut Grove. The house is also a good example of the type of architecture of the nineteenth century frame vernacular architecture that was inspired by the houses of the Bahamas and Key West.
The importance of the contributions made by African Bahamians to the develoment [sic] of Coconut Grove and the City of Miami has long been overlooked. Although recent studies show that by 1920 West Indian blacks made up over 16 percent of Miami’s population, information about their community and lifestyle has been basically undocumented.

Undocumented? Overlooked? Yes!!! Researching the Bahamian phase of Coconut Grove has been a monumental task. I have it through 2nd and 3rd hand information that in the ’20s, or ’30s, or ’40s, and well into the ’60s according to some, Coconut Grove was an artists’ community. It attracted a certain type of Bohemian Beatnik hipster, the archetype of which had little problem mixing with Blacks, listening to Jazz, and smoking reefer. That’s where my novel is going.

However that’s not where my research keeps taking me. My research keeps taking me to the E.W.F. Stirrup House, the Mariah Brown House, and the Coconut Grove Playhouse [another boondoggle I have yet to write about, but which I believe is just one more piece in the giant corruption jigsaw puzzle I find myself investigating] . Yet, the more I find out, the less I know. A little over a year ago the local NBC affiliate and CBS affiliate both filed reports which filled in some more of the blanks of the Stirrup House:



What has happened since then? Aside from someone straightening the historical marker? Nothing. I have now been documenting Charles Avenue in photos and essays for three years. In that time there has been no change to the Mariah Brown House or the E.W.F Stirrup House. Aside from more weather damage they stand in the EXACT same state of disrepair as they were the day I discovered them. My research confirms that each of them were vacant for years before I stumbled across them.

The Coconut Grove Playhouse in 2009.

In April of this year a “Give It Back!!! Give It Back!!!” campaign fired up to save the Coconut Grove Playhouse. However, it appears to have sputtered out almost as quickly as it flared up. More importantly, it was only concentrated on the Playhouse. What’s clearly needed is a comprehensive plan for a specially designated historical district from the Charlotte Jane Memorial Cemetery (named after Stirrup’s wife and childhood sweetheart and once the only place Blacks could be buried in the area because it was owned by Mr. Stirrup) to the Coconut Grove Playhouse, which could be the jewel in the rich tapestry of historical preservation of a Black neighbourhood unique in this country.

If such a designation can be done for a DAMNED DESIGN DISTRICT, then Miami can certainly see to it that this stretch of Charles Avenue be saved, and preserved. What physically remains of Coconut Grove’s rich history has been neglected and allowed to rot. I believe this has always been the original intent, ever since these three properties went vacant. Ask yourselves this question? In the middle of one of the most exclusive Zip Codes in the country, why has Miami allowed this to happen? Have you ever heard of Demolition by Neglect?

I believe the fix was in a long time ago. Therefore the question has always been, in my mind, who would benefit from from these properties being razed to the ground?

Coming soon: Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Three ► Who has a financial stake in the east end of Charles Avenue?

Previous entries:
Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part One
Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part 1.1