Curlew Hills Garden of Meditation Cemetery Study

 Curlew Hills Garden of Meditation Cemetery Study

Emmaleigh Williams

Summer Semester 2025

Project goals and Background Research

Having my study be at a cemetery I hoped to learn many valuable things about the history of the town. How they honored those that had passed, the modernizations that happened over time and just how culture has changed the people surrounding the community as well.  The point of doing this as my project was a bit more of a personal curiosity. This cemetery in particular was one that had been very well up kept and had many different types of graves. 

Living in Tampa and not growing up here I have found that there are many differences between cultures of the panhandle in Florida and here. Being able to look at the community from a different point of view allowed me to better understand the culture and beliefs behind some of the lore and behaviors seen everyday. One of the articles I used to help me with figuring out what it was that I needed to be looking for was titled "Hallowed Ground, Place and Culture"

https://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Hallowed%20ground,%20place,%20&%20culture%20-%20the%20cemetery%20and%20the%20creation%20of%20place.pdf

Methodology

I visited the cemetery early one morning for a few different reasons. I felt that I could do it more efficiently with less people around as well as have a better view of all of the different graves. The first thing that I noticed was how big the cemetery was. It seemed to just keep going. Each sort of roundabout there was a different type of headstone. Some were above ground, some were regular laying graves and some were in either mausoleums or stacked. My method to doing this really did not have much of a strategy. I wanted my pictures and research to feel authentic so I spent a good amount of time walking around and really seeing what stood out to me. I took a picture of about just every type of grave in the cemetery. Although this area is not heavy military I still drew on some knowledge from an article to help me decipher what some graves meant. 

https://www.cem.va.gov/hmm/types.asp

Results

During my time walking around there were a few graves that really caught my eye. The biggest one being that this cemetery had a headstone marked as "5 Unknown Soldiers". This was something that struck me on a personal level given the military background I have. after further research about this grave I was able to find an article and dig up some information on why and how this grave came to be. 

https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2020/03/04/remains-of-unknown-soldier-from-19th-century-laid-to-rest

Pictured above is the grave with the unknown soldiers. Although small and hard to see when just looking around, this one has the most history behind it that I could find. 

Another part that I found to be interesting was a memorial for 9/11. I found this interesting because of the location. It did not really make sense to me due to the fact of being in south Florida but after some looking around I figured out it was because of some firefighters that had lost their lives doing their jobs. 

This is the monument that stands in the middle of the cemetery. It is to commemorate those that lost their lives on September 11, 2001. I was able to find an article from the cemetery itself about the monument.

https://www.curlewhills.com/cemetery/911-memorial

 The last type of grave that stood out to me were the mausoleums. The mausoleums varied from being indoors and air conditioned to being outdoors and made of marble. I noticed that the graves no matter what type, were all very well taken care of. When I was there many groundkeepers were out taking care of the grass and up keeping that needed to be done. 

Pictured above is graves that were lined in one of the mausoleums. After further research I learned that most of the time families are kept next to one another in mausoleums. I also learned that depending on the families preference that there are different types of mausoleums. 

Conclusion

This project taught me a lot about the different parts of my community that I do not see everyday. It taught me that the culture is one that is so alike yet so different depending on what street you from. This cemetery held so many different types of honoring systems. From monuments, to regular graves. I was able to see that the community, although different in honoring, all had one thing in common. Wanting to respect all after they have passed. No matter the religion or standing they had in life. From walking around I was able to tell who was kin and who had different religions or ethnicities. I think my project could be a more developed anthropological study by combing through each and every one of the types of graves in that cemetery. Being able to know why and how they got there is a good way to better understand the history. The more we understand about our culture the more we can modernize and help each other progress.  

References

Curlew Hills Memory Garden

Tampa Bay News Outlet

"Hallowed Ground, Place, and Culture" Demond Shondell Miller & Jason David Rivera. Rowan University. https://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Hallowed%20ground,%20place,%20&%20culture%20-%20the%20cemetery%20and%20the%20creation%20of%20place.pdf

Veterans Affairs