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All the United States Florida Tallahassee Airport Cemetery

Airport Cemetery

The Tallahassee Airport serves over half a million passengers a year and is home to some permanent residents too.

Tallahassee, Florida

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Rachel M
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New Salem Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, a/k/a the Airport cemetery   Mom0ja / Atlas Obscura User
A break in the fence off Springhill Road leads to the cemetery   R. Mathis
Some of the marked graves, looking out over runway 27   R. Mathis
The only signs are the “Restricted” signs keeping visitors off the runway   R. Mathis
The oldest gravestone dates to 1922   Mom0ja / Atlas Obscura User
Walter T. Gavin   texashm / Atlas Obscura User
Cemetery, and Runway 27   texashm / Atlas Obscura User
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If you keep your eyes open when driving on Springhill Road just south of Tallahassee International Airport, you might notice a small break in the security fence. Turn in, drive up between the fences marked with numerous signs proclaiming "Restricted Area," and you'll soon see the gravestones of the cemetery around which the airport built its runways.

Known as Airport Cemetery, it is believed to be the site of what was once a pauper's graveyard. Only about 15 graves are marked with stones, but the southern part of the cemetery is marked with numerous sunken depressions, indicating about another 20 or so graves. The oldest decipherable headstone belongs to the Rev. L. D. Elliott, who died in 1922.

The "Restricted Area" signs on the fencing are to keep visitors off the runways and airport property, but the cemetery is open to the public. And though there are no signs to indicate the ownership of the land or the cemetery, recent burial records indicate that the site is also known by another name: New Salem (Missionary Baptist Church) Cemetery, and burials have been conducted here as recently as July of 2015. The few graves with headstones mostly face away from the start of Runway 27, with a perfect view of the planes coming in for a landing.

Update May 2020: Visitors report that new markers indicate that at least five people have been in 2020. 

Related Tags

Airports Cemeteries Hidden

Know Before You Go

Off Springhill Rd, about a quarter mile southwest of the intersection of Capital Circle SW.

Community Contributors

Added By

Mom0ja

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson, koelker12, MrsSRosales, texashm

  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • koelker12
  • MrsSRosales
  • texashm

Published

January 7, 2016

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  • http://www.talgov.com/airport/airport-airport-info.aspx
  • http://www.fl-genweb.org/leon/AirportCemeteryIndex.html
Airport Cemetery
3805 Springhill Rd
Off Springhill Road
Tallahassee, Florida, 32305
United States
30.39096, -84.326938
Get Directions

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