DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona Beach business owners are working to clean up a 152-year-old cemetery. More than 1,700 people have been buried in the historic Pinewood Cemetery off Main Street since the 1800s.
Headstones are toppled over, there are broken benches, and a lot of debris and weeds. Many businesses on Main Street said it’s also become a hangout for homeless people.
Business owners are now joining forces to fix up the property; they’ll do everything from landscaping to restoring damaged gravestones.
“We’ve got the first mayor here, the first police chief here,” said Tom Caffrey from the World’s Most Famous Brewery.
Records indicate that the first burials took place 152 years ago, making the cemetery two years older than the city. Many of the people buried there were responsible for building and even naming Daytona Beach. Other notable names include Ben McCoy, of the “Real McCoy” family, who ran a liquor operation out of the city during prohibition.
“The people who are buried here deserve the dignity of having their graves taken care of,” said Ed “Heavy” Kastrul from Midwest Motorcycle.
The cemetery technically has no owner because the company responsible for it failed during the Great Depression, and to this day, no one has been willing to put in the work to keep the property maintained. Beachside business owners believe they can transform Pinewood into a place where locals and tourists can learn about the city’s past.
“The goal for this organization is to have this cemetery clean, organized, and safe for people to walk through by Fourth of July this year,” said Kastrul.
There is a save the cemetery event this Sunday from 9 a.m.-11 a.m.Business owners will be here but hope residents will also show up to help.
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