Apalachicola's oldest burial ground, active since the 1830s, where the Historical Society leads candlelit ghost walks among 540 marked graves and the stones of the town's founders.
Avenue E (between 6th and 8th Streets), Apalachicola, FL 32320
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Free to visit during daylight. Ghost walk events: $5 adults; free for Apalachicola Area Historical Society members. Check aahs.wildapricot.org for upcoming event dates.
Access
Limited Access
Grassy cemetery with varied terrain, mature trees, and some uneven ground.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1831 · Oldest burial ground in Apalachicola, with interments from the 1830s onward · Graves of at least 79 Confederate and 7 Union veterans, including Gettysburg veterans · Burial site of botanist Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman and Captain Leander Crawford · Includes graves of free African American hotel operators William and Mary Fuller
Chestnut Street Cemetery takes its name from Chestnut Street, the original designation for what is now Avenue E (U.S. 98) running through central Apalachicola. The oldest marked stone in the cemetery is dated 1831, though interments likely preceded that date. The burial ground has been in continuous use throughout Apalachicola's entire history as an incorporated town.
Approximately 540 marked graves are currently documented, with many more unmarked sites across the grounds. Tombstone styles range from simple vertical slabs of the 1830s to elaborate Victorian marble monuments, a visual record of the town's economic fluctuations from cotton-port prosperity through post-Civil War decline.
Among the notable burials is Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman, the botanist who spent the last fifty years of his life in Apalachicola and authored the Flora of the Southern United States, a foundational work in American botany. Also interred here is Captain Leander M. Crawford, commander of the steamboat John C. Calhoun, which exploded on April 29, 1860, killing nine people. The Hull family plot contains an unusual pairing: two Confederate soldiers from the 4th Florida Infantry buried alongside two Union soldiers from the 4th Missouri Cavalry. Burial records include William and Mary Fuller, free African Americans who operated Apalachicola's finest hotel in the antebellum era.
Civil War veterans are represented in significant numbers. Beginning in 1912, the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy marked the graves of veterans; the final count confirmed at least 79 Confederate and 7 Union soldiers, including some who served in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. The cemetery also holds victims of yellow fever and cholera epidemics that repeatedly struck the port town.
Sources
The ghost walk events at Chestnut Street Cemetery, organized by the Apalachicola Area Historical Society, use theatrical storytelling rooted in documented burial records rather than invented supernatural claims. Costumed local historians take on the personas of the deceased and recount stories from Apalachicola's past in first person, a format the society has used for years in both spring and fall events.
Among the stories carried on these walks are accounts that require no embellishment. Marie Hickey is buried here; historical accounts record that she went insane and cut her husband's throat with a razor. Two teenagers identified as Louisa and Frank were pulled from the Apalachicola River with their arms wrapped around each other; their graves are among those pointed out on the candlelit tours.
The cemetery's documented dark history also includes victims of yellow fever and cholera, the nine men killed when Captain Crawford's steamboat John C. Calhoun exploded in the Apalachicola River in 1860, and the layered story of the Hull family plot, where men who fought on opposing sides of the Civil War lie in adjacent graves.
The historical society frames these walks as history rather than paranormal investigation, offering the cemetery's real records as the source of its character. For visitors who prefer daytime access, a self-guided walking tour and digital map are available through the AAHS website.
Notable Entities
Walk among approximately 540 marked graves dating to the 1830s. A self-guided walking tour (roughly 30 minutes) is available through the Apalachicola Area Historical Society, with an interactive digital map covering notable burials including Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman, Confederate and Union veterans, and steamboat captain Leander Crawford.
Each spring and fall, the Apalachicola Area Historical Society hosts candlelit ghost walks in which costumed local historians assume the personas of cemetery residents to tell stories from Apalachicola's past. Events begin at 6:30 p.m. Tickets $5 for adults; AAHS members free. Available at the gate, at the Raney House Museum, or online through the AAHS events page.
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