Huguenot Cemetery

Established in 1821 as the city's Protestant burial ground, containing at least 436 bodies including victims of devastating yellow fever epidemics. Mass graves hold up to 25 bodies stacked vertically, with only the top name marked on the stone.

The Huguenot Cemetery was established in 1821 as St. Augustine's first non-Catholic burial ground, covering half an acre with approximately 436 interments. Despite its name, no French Huguenots are buried there—the term was then synonymous with non-Catholic. The cemetery closed in 1884 after a Yellow Fever outbreak completely overcrowded it. Judge John Stickney is the most famous ghost—a Massachusetts attorney who became District Attorney, States Attorney, and Judge before dying of fever in 1882 at age 50. After his death, his children became orphans and were taken to Washington D.C. by relatives. Years later, they decided to move their father's remains closer to home. During the exhumation, gravediggers took a break in the Florida heat, leaving the casket open. Thieves stole the Judge's gold teeth. The workers closed the casket hoping no one would notice, but someone did—the Judge himself. Though his body was moved to D.C., his tall dark figure continues prowling the cemetery, searching for his missing dental work. He appears day and night wearing a black hat. A fourteen-year-old girl abandoned at the city gates during yellow fever was buried here since she could not be proven Catholic. Her ghost in a flowing white dress wanders after midnight, sometimes waving at visitors or appearing atop the gate. Photos frequently capture glowing orbs, strange mists, and shadows.