Saturday, August 5, 2000 Story last updated at 7:57 p.m. on Thursday, August 3, 2000 Preserving Mayport's earliest history By Caren Burmeister Shorelines staff writer MAYPORT -- On the surface, there's nothing remarkable about the sandy lot east of town where an asphalt road runs between Mayport Naval Station and the historic fishing village. But old-timers know that a 19th-century cemetery, and maybe even the remains of Spanish soldiers who lived in the area centuries ago, lay buried beneath Broad Street and decades of shifting sand dunes and dredge material from Ribault Bay. "You wouldn't know it's there if you didn't know it's there," said John Meserve, chairman of the Mayport Waterfront Partnership. Larry King, a fourth-generation Mayport native, has asked the partnership to help him define the boundaries of the cemetery, which is about 650 feet west of the St. Johns Lighthouse. King also wants to identify who is buried there, raise the markers and tombstones and get the cemetery placed on the National Register of Historic Places. "The people who lived here had a vast and rich history," King said. It's time they get some recognition, he said. The old cemetery was never officially recorded, so nothing prevented the government from building a Navy base on it or the state from building a road over it. The Old Mayport Cemetery is one of the few 19th-century landmarks left in Mayport, according to a 1998 Mayport Naval Station study on the historic and archaeological significance of the area. In March and April of 1998, the Navy hired the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to excavate the site. A report from the corps' consultant shows the cemetery was covered by about 3 feet of dredge material from Ribault Bay when the Mayport Naval Station was built in 1941. Archaeologists found one grave marker for Mary F. Hogan, who died in 1875 at age 20. Markers for L. Fatio, F. Fatio, M. Floyd and D. Floyd revealed no death dates. The Floyds and Fatios were founders of a local church and early settlers of Mayport. King is related to the Floyds through his mother. His family is descended from the Minorcans, who came to Mayport in the late 1700s after fleeing a plantation in New Smyrna Beach, where they had worked as indentured servants. The cemetery area could contain Spanish graves associated with Fort San Estaban, which was built around 1560, according to a 1991 historical resources survey by the Florida Museum of National History in Gainesville. Oral history indicates the old Spanish Cemetery may lie nearby, although the Army Corps' 1998 report said that hasn't been substantiated through archaeological investigations. Spanish forces attacked Fort Caroline, north of Mayport, in 1565 and established a settlement there. Their hold over the region grew through the 16th and 17th centuries. England took possession of Spanish Florida in 1763, but the Spanish regained authority over the state near the end of the American Revolution. Florida came into American possession in 1821. The first commercial shipments of naval stores along the St. Johns River began in 1776. Commerce grew rapidly and a third lighthouse, known as the St. Johns Lighthouse, was built in 1854 to help guide ships into the St. Johns River. That lighthouse remains at the Mayport Naval Station and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Joseph "Brownie" Brown, who oversees the contemporary Mayport Cemetery off Wonderwood Lane, believes Spanish soldiers were buried in Mayport based on something he saw in the early 1940s. Brown witnessed a dig that unearthed two skeletons near what was to become the Navy's medical facility. A 2-inch, H-shaped brass buckle, like those worn by Spanish soldiers centuries ago, was attached to a deteriorated shoe on one of the skeletons' feet. Brown said the buckle and skeleton were placed in an egg crate, but he doesn't know what happened to them. No one else, including Homer Hull, a Navy civil engineer who was involved with the 1998 report, had heard of or seen that discovery. Brown believes it's important to honor the cemetery because it's the resting place of the community's historical roots. "It's too bad it's gone as long as it has without recognition," he said. "We need a plaque on it." In its 1998 report, the Army Corps' consultant said the old cemetery site appears to meet requirements for the National Register of Historic Places because it contains information about Mayport's history, development and ethnic origins. The report noted that a buffer should be built around the known portions of the cemetery and that the area should be protected from ground-disturbing activity. Meanwhile, King has obtained a promise from the Navy to help recognize and protect the cemetery. "The community of Mayport was here long before the naval station was," said Cmdr. Fred Berley, the Navy base's executive officer. "We want to keep the relationship we have with the residents."