Ormond revisits the past during cemetery tour

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

The Ormond Beach Historical Society hosted its 6th annual Tales from Pilgrim's Rest Cemetery Tour.

Nancy Partridge’s family has been buried in the Pilgrim’s Rest Cemetery since the 1900s. Her great-aunt, who was 4-years-old when she died, was the first one buried there in 1908.

“I got aunts and uncles, grandparents, mom and dad,” Partridge said. “Our family was actually buried in an old cemetery called Grover Creek which was in the middle of Tymber Creek subdivision but then thy bought this land and donated it into a church. That was back in the early 1900s.”

Now the caretaker of the cemetery, Partridge helps to lead the the Ormond Beach Historical Society’s 6th annual Tales from Pilgrim’s Rest Cemetery Tour. Society Director Joyce Benedict started the event as a way to explore the history of the cemetery that is over a hundred years old.

“This location is perfect,” Benedict said. “We wanted to do a cemetery tour with a lot of history, and with the help of Nancy Partridge we were able to do that and split our proceeds fifty-fifty.”

The cemetery is also home to eight confederate soldiers that spent time in the war, got married, had kids and died at an older age. Ron Alcorn, who was impersonating confederate soldier Henry Campbell, has been an actor in the tour since it began. But he’s been honoring his confederate ancestors — dating back to his great-grandfather — for 25 years.

“I’m just hoping that somebody is doing the same for my family where they are buried,” Alcorn said. “I have no connection to the people in this cemetery other than the fact that they were confederate soldiers.”

“This is the way to give tribute to them,” Partridge said. “A way to tell their stories. We respect the cemetery and the dead. This is our living history and most people don’t have a history. I try to tell everybody, no matter if they’re cremated or what, they need a tombstone so they can leave a foot print for their grandchildren to come look. They need to leave something for their ancestors to come to a hundred years from now.”