City-Owned Cemeteries

Looking for someone who you think might be buried in a City of Tallahassee-owned cemetery? Here's where to start.

Is this your first visit? In that case, we recommend that you read the information below. Otherwise, you can jump right to the index.
The main listing includes only burials that have occurred and been recorded in our master database since the mid-1980s.
To see the definitions of some (possibly unfamiliar) terms, see the list below.
Remember that many -- perhaps most -- burials in Tallahassee occur in private cemeteries, not in the five owned and operated by the City government. The records for these private cemeteries are not included here at talgov.com; to research them, you'll need to contact one or more funeral homes or other institutions, or genealogical research organizations. Some of these other sources may have on-line sites of their own which you can check. The largest funeral homes in Tallahassee, in alphabetical order, are:
- Abbey Funeral Home and Tallahassee Memory Gardens: 4037 N. Monroe Street, Tallahassee FL. (850) 562-1518
- Bevis Funeral Home: 2710 N. Monroe Street, Tallahassee FL. (850) 385-2193
- Culley's Meadowwood Funeral Homes: 1737 Riggins Road, Tallahassee, FL. 32308 (850) 877-819 (Memorial Park: 700 Timberlane Rd., Tallahassee FL. (850) 893-4177)
You might also check with area churches, many of which operate their own cemeteries or graveyards. A good lists of local churches may be found at Areaconnect.com.
Another good source of online information for researchers in this area is the Leon County Clerk of Courts Public Records. At this time, county death (and birth) records cannot be searched online there. However, you might try the Official Records search for the state of Florida, at myfloridacounty.com.
- Enter at least the first few letters of the last name of the individual you're researching;
- choose County and select LEON from the list of counties; and
- select "Death Certificate" from the Document Type.
- If desired, narrow the search by date range before clicking on the "Search" button.
Also check the "Cemeteries" and "Death and Other Burial" sections of the Leon County Florida Genealogical Research Site of the Florida GenWeb Project. This site offers links to a wide variety of online information sources not just in Tallahassee/Leon County but in surrounding areas.

We also provide a page of links to information about cemeteries in general, as opposed to burial records.

For all questions regarding information on these pages, please contact the Cemeteries unit at 850-891-8711.

Terms Used in the Burial Index

Column Headings:

Block/Lot or Section #/Space

All these terms are used to give a particular grave's "address" within a cemetery. Not all terms apply to all cemeteries.

All grave spaces (the last portion of the "address") are numbered. A normal (non-Babyland) grave space is 5' x 10' in size; such a space can be sub-divided into eight smaller (2.5 x 2.5) spaces in each of which cremains may be buried. These eight sub-spaces are lettered as follows:

(Head end of A)	(Head end of B)
A	B
C	D
E	F
G	H
(Foot end of G)	(Foot end of H)

In Roselawn, Babyland graves are 4' x 4'; in Southside, 5' x5'.

The exact breakdown of addressing scheme, by cemetery, is:

Greenwood: Graves are identified by block (alpha or numeric), lot (alpha or numeric), and grave space. In the so-called "singles" lot, graves don't have a block or lot number. Quite a few graves in Greenwood are outside the platted area of the cemetery.
Oakland: Graves are identified by block (alpha or numeric), lot (alpha or numeric), and grave space. Includes a "Veterans" lot; graves here don't have block or lot number. Many gravesites are designated as being a specific portion of a lot (direction + fraction, like "NW 1/4" and "S 1/2."
Old City: Addressing is very unsystematic. Please contact the Cemeteries unit for questions on specific gravesites.
Roselawn: Graves are identified by block (alpha), section (numeric), and grave space. Includes three separate Babyland sections.
Southside: Graves are identified by block (alphabetic), section (numeric), and grave space. Includes two separate Babyland sections.

Lot Descr

E 1/4, SE 1/2, etc.: Helps to locate the lot within the cemetery

Exception

Indicates whether the grave space contains cremains (see below) or is located within a particular section of the cemetery's Babyland areas.

Other Terms:

Cremains

As you might guess, these are the remains following a cremation. They occupy much less space than a full burial (which would include a coffin, crypt, and so on).

Babyland

Infant burials frequently take place in a portion of a cemetery set aside for such a purpose, rather than in a specific family plot. Such an area of a cemetery is referred to as "Babyland."

Not Deeded to Anyone

Technically, our system doesn't keep track of burials; instead, it records who has purchased each gravesite from the City. (The overall database includes almost 30,000 records, but fewer than half of them are for grave spaces in which someone is yet buried.) In rare cases, we have no record of a gravesite's actual owner, although we know who is buried there, and that's what this notation refers to. Note that although the system in our office records the name and address of the purchaser, we have not included this information on-line for privacy reasons

Plat

The result of an official survey of City-owned property is a plat.

Head End/Foot End

Depending on the circumstances of a burial, the deceased may occupy less than a full grave space. The "head end" of the space is the portion closest to the monument or gravestone; the foot end, that furthest from the monument or gravestone.

Walkway

Areas between grave spaces are often marked (for example, with flagstones, paths, and so on) as areas to be walked on as you make your way on foot through the cemetery. In some extraordinary circumstances, burials may have occurred beneath what are now walkways.

Transferred

Once someone has purchased one or more grave spaces from the City, it belongs to that person (or his/her estate). In rare cases, someone who has purchased grave spaces in a given section may decide later that they'd prefer spaces in a different section, or a different cemetery altogether. The term "transferred" refers to this kind of change -- basically a bookkeeping change, which frees up the spaces owned at the original location.

Reinter(red/ment)

In rare cases, the deceased may need to be relocated after burial from one area of a cemetery to a different one within the same or another cemetery. For instance, if a family later buys a larger plot elsewhere, they may want to "relocate" earlier family members to the new area.