The Coral Gables Museum received Dade Heritage Trust’s esteemed Preservation Award, in recognition of the museum’s ongoing efforts to restore the Lincoln Memorial Park cemetery grounds and thereby preserve the site’s rich history.
This year’s event, which celebrated outstanding achievements in local conservation efforts, was held on Thursday, Apr. 11, at the Scottish Rite Temple in Downtown Miami’s Lummus Park Historic District, where the nonprofit also unveiled it “Most Endangered Sites” list for 2019.
The museum’s involvement with Lincoln Memorial Park began in earnest in January 2018, with only a handful of volunteers and museum staff. Within months, more than 100 volunteers joined the museum’s efforts in clearing debris, removing massive amounts of overgrowth, and repairing and cleaning the graves, which are primarily comprised of above-ground concrete vaults.
The museum also conducted research on funeral home records to identify the names and locations of those buried so descendants can find their relatives.
“This recognition by such a prestigious institution as Dade Heritage Trust is enormously important to us, and inspires us to continue our efforts, not only at Lincoln, but elsewhere,” said John Allen, Coral Gables Museum’s executive director. “The documents and ledgers we have been working on transcribing date back over 100 years.
“In many cases, they are probably the only proof of the existence of many of the people buried at Lincoln. The reason all these good things have come about is really pretty simple. As a museum team, we simply
felt it was the right thing to do,” he added.
In August 2018, the Coral Gables Museum unveiled an exhibition chronicling its efforts, which would ultimately garner local and critical acclaim. “Sacred Ground: The Rise, Fall & Revival of Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery” showcased documents and objects from the archives and grounds of Lincoln Memorial Park for the first time in history. The “Caretakers” component of the exhibition included an accompanying photographic essay and documentary video on the project by award-winning Miami Herald photographer Carl Juste and photographer C.W. Griffin.
Lincoln Memorial Park serves as the final resting place for many prominent black leaders, including famed civil rights activist Athalie Range; Gwen Cherry, the first female elected to the Florida Legislature; D. A. Dorsey, the son of former slaves who became Miami’s first black millionaire and a banker, philanthropist and sold what became known as Fisher Island to Carl Fisher, and Kelsey Pharr, Miami’s first licensed African-American mortician and longtime owner of the cemetery.
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers who served in conflicts ranging from the Spanish-American War to Vietnam are buried there, many in unmarked or unlocated graves. A significant number of those buried in the cemetery were employed in the 1920s in the creation and construction of Coral Gables.
Works from the museum’s permanent collections, along with a rotation of temporary exhibitions, are on view in the galleries Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from noon to 6 p.m.; Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit www.coralgablesmuseum.org.
