Agenda 01/28/2025 Item #11A (Approve and accept Quit Claim Deeds)1/28/2025
Item # 11.A
ID# 2024-2360
Executive Summary
Recommendation to approve and accept Quit Claim Deeds for two outlying parcels of land which were originally part of
Rosemary Cemetery, located south of Pine Ridge Road between US 41 and Goodlette-Frank Road, at a cost not to
exceed $62.50 for recording of the Deeds.
OBJECTIVE: To honor and remember all our community’s forbears buried in the original Rosemary Cemetery.
CONSIDERATIONS: Rosemary Cemetery was founded in 1930 on twenty acres of land donated by Ed Crayton
between US 41 and the railroad (now Goodlette Road) south of Pine Ridge Road to allow removal of graves from the
downtown area near St. Ann’s Church. It is known that ten burials were moved from St. Ann’s to Rosemary Unit B and
Plot W in the 1930s, but the high water table and sugar sand at Rosemary made burials problematic. Overall, the
cemetery was “unpopular,” and many of the departed were sent up north or to Ft. Myers instead of finding a final resting
place in Rosemary. The last interment in Rosemary was in 1947 and it officially closed in 1955.
The historical record of burials in the cemetery is incomplete. The most reliable source of information is a 1944 survey
completed by City Engineer Cambier, which identifies twenty-four actual graves (fourteen known, ten unknown) in Unit
B, nine named graves in Plot W, and “eight Negro Graves - Unmarked” in Plot N.
In 1950 Ed Crayton’s widow sold the cemetery to John Pulling and Robert Benson. Throughout the 1960s development
happened around the burial plots. In the mid-1970s community interest arose about the cemetery and in 1976 Pulling
and Benson quit claim deeded Unit B to Collier County. Various community organizations cared for the plots through
the 1970s and 1980s, and in 1993 at the recommendation of the Historical and Archaeological Preservation Board, the
Board of County Commissioners (Board) designated Unit B as a historic site and authorized new markers and
maintenance under direction of Museums. Museums, with the help of Facilities Management, has maintained Unit B
since. Plots W and N, however, remained in private ownership.
On December 14, 2021, the Board approved Agenda Item 16.D.23, directing staff to begin the process of acquiring Plots
W and N and to perform necessary improvements and annual maintenance to conform with standards similar to Unit B.
Under guidance from the County Attorney as to the appropriate manner of acquisition, staff has secured from the heirs
of the owners of record of the parcels Quit Claim Deeds which are presented here for Board approval and acceptance.
Eagle Scout candidate Jonathan Rodriguez has committed to helping acknowledge the people buried in Plot N and has
raised funds for this purpose. Staff will work with Mr. Rodriguez and any other interested parties to install appropriate
headstones and signage at no cost to the County.
The NAACP of Collier County also has pledged to “financially support this initiative to honor these early unknown
pioneers. May they rest in peace knowing that we collectively have protected and preserved the dignity of mankind.”
FISCAL IMPACT: The cost of recording the two Quit Claim Deeds will not exceed $62.50. Funding is available in the
FY 25 Museum Operating budget (Fund 1107).
GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMPACT: There is no impact on the County’s long-range planning effort.
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS: This item is approved as to form and legality and requires a majority vote for approval.
-SAA
RECOMMENDATIONS: To approve and accept Quit Claim Deeds Plots N and W of Rosemary Cemetery and direct
the County Manager or her designee to proceed to follow all appropriate closing procedures, and to record the Quit
Claim Deeds in the Public Records of Collier County, Florida.
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1/28/2025
Item # 11.A
ID# 2024-2360
PREPARED BY: Amanda Townsend, Director, Museum Division
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Quit Claim Deed Plot W
2. Quit Claim Deed Plot N
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