Georgiana Cemetery

Georgiana Cemetery — also called Crooked Mile Cemetery for its location on Crooked Mile Road in Merritt Island — represents one of the earliest documented burial grounds in Brevard County, Florida. It is tied to the historic community of Georgiana, a mid-nineteenth-century pioneer settlement that no longer exists as a distinct town. The Georgianna United Methodist Church, which sits at the corner of Crooked Mile Road and South Tropical Avenue, was erected in 1886; the lumber was brought by sailboat from St. Augustine and unloaded along the Indian River shoreline. The first service was held on Thanksgiving Day of that year.

Under the canopy of old oak trees draped with Spanish moss, the cemetery holds the remains of original Florida settlers, Civil War soldiers, and veterans of both World Wars. The grounds also include Provost Hall, a historic structure built in 1910, which adds additional context to the pioneering era of this coastal community.

The cemetery's most historically notable grave belongs to Ethel Allen, a nineteen-year-old Cocoa resident whose badly mutilated body was discovered on the shore of the Indian River between Rockledge and Eau Gallie on November 21, 1934. Identified by a tattoo and a ring she wore, Allen had last been seen with a man calling himself William 'Billy' Wilson, who fled the area the day her body was found and was never apprehended. Her murder remains unsolved. Her handmade headstone — a distinctive feature among the otherwise conventional grave markers — draws visitors to the site today.