Florida National Cemetery
Columbarium at Florida National Cemetery.
|
|
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1988 |
| Location | Bushnell, Florida |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 28°36′30″N 82°13′01″W / 28.60833°N 82.21694°WCoordinates: 28°36′30″N 82°13′01″W / 28.60833°N 82.21694°W |
| Type | United States National Cemetery |
| Size | 512.9 acres (207.6 ha) |
| No. of interments | 129,000 |
| Website | Official |
| Find a Grave | Florida National Cemetery |
Florida National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located near the city of Bushnell in Sumter County, Florida. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 512.9 acres (207.6 ha), and began interments in 1988.
Florida National Cemetery is located in the Withlacoochee State Forest, approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of Tampa. The forest was acquired by the federal government from private landowners between 1936 and 1939 under the provisions of the U.S. Land Resettlement Administration. The United States Forest Service managed the property until a lease-purchase agreement transferred it to the Florida Board of Forestry in 1958. Currently, Withlacoochee State Forest is the second-largest state forest in Florida, divided into eight distinct tracts of land.
In 1842, Congress encouraged settlement here by establishing the Armed Occupation Act. The law granted a patent for 160 acres (0.65 km2) to any man who kept a gun and ammunition, built a house, cultivated 5 acres (20,000 m2) of the land and remained there for at least five years. Settlers moved in to take advantage of the generous offer. The area contained abundant timber and suitable farmland, appealing attributes to frontiersmen. In 1845 Florida was granted statehood.
During the Civil War, a sugar mill on the Homosassa River supplied sugar to the Confederacy. A robust citrus-growing industry developed in the eastern part of the area and became a focus of intense economic expansion soon after the war.
In 1980, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it would establish a new national cemetery in Florida, its fourth. Two major locations for the cemetery were studied: property near the Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Withlacoochee State Forest. The Withlacoochee site, though more environmentally sensitive, was supported by government officials. In February 1983, the state transferred land to the VA for the development of a Florida National Cemetery. The first burial was in 1988 and a columbarium was opened in November 2001.
...
Wikipedia