St. Michael’s Cemetery Foundation of Pensacola, Inc.

P.O. Box 13602
Pensacola, Florida 32591
850-436-4643
850-434-1505 fax

Contact:  Nancy Fetterman
Contact Phone No:  850-453-4959
www.stmichaelscemetery.org

St. Michael’s Cemetery is one of Florida’s oldest extant cemeteries, formally surveyed and established by the Spanish in 1807.  Evidence suggests that the cemetery may have been used as early as the mid 18^th century, however, as the colonial city grew to the east of Fort San Carlos de Austria, the original Spanish Fort and first permanent settlement in Northwest Florida established in 1698.

Today, St. Michael’s Cemetery serves as an open-air museum, documenting the development and history of Pensacola.  Many of the city’s most prominent people are buried alongside average citizens, immigrants, mulattos, and slaves alike, representing the diversity upon which Pensacola was built.  Graves, tombstones, and mausoleums illustrate this diversity with the many different burial techniques, practices, and beliefs as well.  As a result, St. Michael’s Cemetery serves not only as a museum, but also as an educational environment for those interested in Pensacola’s rich history and past ways of life. 

St. Michael’s Cemetery Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, protection, and maintenance of St. Michael’s Cemetery, one of Florida’s oldest extant cemeteries.  The organization’s objectives include promoting the historical significance of the site as well as advancing the educational opportunities afforded by such a historically rich resource.  Because of the group’s efforts, St. Michael’s Cemetery is an official project of Save America’s Treasures, a national effort to protect America's threatened cultural treasures, and one of Pensacola’s most cherished historic sites.

The majority of the St. Michael’s Cemetery Foundation’s holdings relate to archaeological investigations and surveys performed by and held at the University of West Florida.  There are some photographs as well as various miscellaneous resource materials related to cemetery archaeology, restoration, and historic cemetery management as well.  The UWF Special Collections department also houses information relating to St. Michael’s.  The archaeological material is housed in two different areas, the UWF Archaeology Institute Curation Facility (bldg 49) and the UWF Archaeology Institute (bldg 89).