Key West Cemetery

Key West City Cemetery is a 19-acre active burial ground in Old Town, with palm-lined paths, above-ground tombs and family vaults. It’s a good stop if you want to read some of the island’s history in the places where it happened. Pick up the free self-guided map at the entrance; it helps you find the USS Maine plot, the Cuban martyrs monument, the Jewish section and the marker that says “I Told You I Was Sick.”

Its burial sections reflect the people who shaped Key West: Bahamian mariners, Cuban cigar makers, Catholics, Jews, sailors and veterans, and people across races and economic positions. The cemetery is still active, with about 100 interments a year, so keep your visit quiet and respectful around families who are there to mourn.

The City established the cemetery in 1847 on high ground, after an October 1846 hurricane unearthed the earlier beach-side burial ground. The site is about 16 feet above sea level. Hard coral rock below and a high water table made below-ground burials difficult, helping explain the rows of stone tombs and family vaults that give the cemetery its distinctive look.

A plot with a central monument commemorates sailors killed when the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898; about two dozen of the ship’s dead are buried there. The Los Martires de Cuba monument has an obelisk and tablets honoring people who died trying to free Cuba from Spanish rule.

The map also points to stories beyond the monuments. William Curry came from Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas in 1847 and became Florida’s first millionaire. Thomas Romer was an African-Bahamian privateer during the War of 1812; his gravestone claims he lived to 108. Guy Bradley, a warden killed by plume hunters in 1905, became an early figure in bird conservation, and his widow Sophronia is buried here.

Visitors also report roosters and iguanas wandering among the graves. Between the animals, the old palms and the varied tombs, it feels like a living part of Key West, not a museum frozen in time.